Of Beauty and Rage
by Lost Lacrimae
Summary: When the Lone Wanderer frees her father from Tranquility Lane, she also frees one of Charon's darkest secrets: a 200 year old one named Juliet Carlisle. Upon surfacing from Vault 112, she discovers that not only has the entire world changed, but so has the love of her life... Sequel to "When You're Young" Charon/OC
1. Pretend You Don't See Her

**HI! If you're new PLEASE read the previous story called, "When You're Young" on my profile! Otherwise you might get confused and not fully enjoy this story!**

 **I don't own Bethesda or any of their _Fallout_ franchise. I do own any characters I made.**

* * *

 **Of Beauty and Rage**

 _ **When You're Young**_ sequel

 _"Will I wake up from this moment? Will I see you slip away? Or is this a new beginning of beauty and rage?" - RED_

 **xxx**

Charon had this uncomfortable feeling as he and Sylvia approached Smith Casey's garage. Dogmeat had his nose set on something on the left side of the garage, and Charon was hoping he wouldn't come across the grave and dig it up. He'd buried a girl there two hundred years ago, and he was afraid the memories would overwhelm him if he were to see her body again.

The mutt sniffed around the ground until Sylvia called him over, and Charon silently sighed in relief.

Dogmeat was growling lightly as they were ready to open the door. That meant there were enemies inside. Charon pulled out his combat shotgun and pushed past Sylvia as they went inside.

It appeared to be a normal garage that had somewhat survived the nuclear fallout Charon can remember so easily two hundred years ago. The only enemies he came across were some mole rats. He only looked vaguely annoyed as he stepped back and let Dogmeat tear them to shreds.

Sylvia looked around cautiously. "I don't see a vault." She said with narrowing grey-blue eyes and accidentally stepping on a dead radroach.

Gross.

"Your father said in his recording that the vault is well hidden in here." Charon reminded. He didn't feel like mentioning that he knew _where_ it was hidden. She was smart, she would figure it out.

Maybe.

Sylvia nodded and walked over to a door that was next to a counter, which led to the actual garage. Dogmeat was sniffing at the floor in the corner, which caused her to notice there was an outline in the middle on the floor.

An outline that could open, possibly.

Sylvia raced over and crouched down, tracing her hand over the outline. Dogmeat was wagging his tail, amused she was on the floor with him. Out of curiosity, Sylvia pressed her Pip-Boy against the outline, as if that would magically cause the floor to split open.

Nothing happened, of course.

"What are you doing?" Charon asked from behind, cleverly hiding his amusement.

"Nothing!" Sylvia squeaked. She looked up at him to see that he had his hand on a red lever next to a power box, and he pushed it up. Instantly the floor gave way as the trap door split open, causing Sylvia and Dogmeat to drop and tumble down a set of stairs that appeared. Charon simply folded his arms over his chest as they were groaning.

"Are you alright?" He decided to ask in a calm voice.

"How did you know to do that?" Sylvia asked back in a daze as she sat up.

"I have been here before." Charon admitted as he carefully walked down the stairs.

"You have-?" Sylvia exclaimed, widening her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Charon's response was, "You didn't ask."

Sylvia was now completely dumbfounded as Charon passed her. She decided to let it slide. Charon had been alive since before the world ended; no doubt he had traveled to many places. Quickly she got up and looked down at Dogmeat. "You stay here." She ordered him. The mutt immediately whined, but he would obey.

The Lone Wanderer now followed Charon to a new set of double stairs that led to an electronic door. "When I first came here, Robobrains were guarding the door, and they wouldn't listen to me." Charon spoke quietly.

"Were you trying to get in?" Sylvia guessed.

"I was trying to find someone." He corrected.

 _"Please... I need to get into the vault."_

 _"Entry denied."_

The door opened from motion detection and Sylvia now felt homesick as they walked along vault designed walls. She felt worse when she saw the entrance to the actual vault. The large gear door had already been opened. Hopefully that was evidence that her father had passed through here. Now the quickest thing to do was to follow the path of opened doors.

Eventually, they came across an active Robobrain that had a large crack in its case that protected the brain.

Sylvia was staring at the damage, even as the robot spoke to her. "Welcome to Vault 112, resident! According to sensors, you have arrived 200.3 years behind schedule."

"I'm not..." Sylvia started in confusion.

"Please redress in your Vault-Tec issued vault suit before proceeding. If you have misplaced your suit, I am authorized to distribute a new one." The Robobrain continued.

"Wait a minute..." Sylvia urged.

"Once dressed, please proceed down the stairs to the main floor so that you may enter your assigned Tranquility Lounger." The Robobrain finished.

Sylvia blinked. "A what?"

* * *

In a matter of moments, Sylvia draped her newly given Vault 112 jumpsuit over what she was wearing, and walked past the Robobrain with Charon following. "Did you see the crack on the robot?" She said in a hushed voice.

"Yes... I did that," Charon replied. "I was angry that I wasn't allowed in, so I punched it."

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Yes."

Sylvia silently gulped as they went down a long hallway, a short set of stairs, two right turns, and finally: the main floor. Another Robobrain came up and offered to show Sylvia to her "assigned" Lounger - which to her looked like giant computer pods. Before she climbed into it, she realized there were people in the other Loungers. Was... was Dad in one of them-?

She wasn't able to see faces, but she could tell through the dark Loungers that the people weren't skeletons. "How long have they been here?" She wondered, checking out the computers that were across from each Lounger. "J. Rockwell," she named aloud. "R. Rockwell, Unoccupied... I guess that one is mine... T. Dithers, J. Carlisle, A. Carlisle..."

Charon knew what it was like to have his heart stop beating, but this time he felt it like never before.

J. Carlisle and A. Carlisle. One J. Carlisle was dead, and the other one... _here_ , and he knew which one it was. And this is why at first he was unable to move until Sylvia called his name. Now he went over to the computer reading "J. Carlisle" and started to read her file.

"Do you know that person?" Sylvia realized. "Is that who you were looking for when you first came here?"

"Not anymore," Charon mumbled. "Go find your father."

"Do you want me to try to find her too?" Sylvia offered, reading the full name given on the computer.

"No," he growled. " _No_."

Sylvia had never seen Charon like this. It was freaking her out. A lot. She nervously pushed open her Lounger and climbed aboard. Once she was firmly in her seat, the Lounger shut on its own, and everything went all fuzzy on her.

Oh and all color disappeared before her eyes too.

Meanwhile, Charon was walking around all the Loungers, angry on the inside that you could barely see into them. According to the computer, J. Carlisle was in one of these Loungers.

 _Do you want me to try to find her too?_

He wasn't lying when he told her no. If Sylvia could somehow get her Lounger open... no. It would change everything.

He'd heard things about this vault from over the years. People would say the Overseer had his Vault Dwellers trapped in the Loungers purposely. Would Sylvia be able to free them?

Would she...

Could she...

 _Can she find and bring back Juliet?_


	2. Let Me Be Myself

**As a friendly notice, my story photo is a representation of Juliet, not my Lone Wanderer**

James was starting to miss having only _two_ legs and less hair. Betty, or really Dr. Braun would send a snicker his way every once in a while, and not in his pretty little girl voice either.

Confined to the playground thanks to Braun, James wasted time by using his front paws to dig by the tree. Maybe the insanity of being a dog would make him think he could dig his way out of Tranquility Lane.

When he couldn't dig any further, James whined and sat down in front of his fail hole.

Moving his animal eyes over, Betty sent him another evil chuckle and then continued to water the flowers by the slide.

James responded with a low growl, wishing he'd use his new ferocious teeth to rip Braun a new one.

"Hi, Doc."

James turned his head to see little Timmy Neusbaum, a nervous smile on his face. Why Braun picked on the boy, James didn't know. He wagged his tail forcefully as Timmy pat his head. "Want some lemonade, Doc? No one's bought any from my stand..." He placed the full pitcher of lemonade down in front of James.

For the sake of the boy James lowered his head to lap the drink. It didn't even have a taste. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it wasn't plain. It was... _nothing_. As if he'd drank air instead.

"Good boy, Doc!" Timmy said, patting James again. "Maybe the others will see you liking it, and they'll wanna get some too!" He theorized. He grabbed the pitcher and took off running back to his stand.

James barked once, wishing Timmy had stayed for just another moment. Though he was a boy, Timmy's eagerness reminded James of his daughter. God... he missed her so much. But he knew she was in the Vault, safe. She was an adult now. She didn't need her dad anymore. Big girls could take care of themselves.

Now he imagined how she reacted when she found out that he'd left the Vault. Was she mad? Glad? Sad? Oh, James hoped she wasn't sad. She didn't need him anymore.

Betty started to whistle, which annoyed James even more than the secret laughs. James started to walk back to his hole by the tree when he heard Timmy's dad George, speak from across the street.

"Hey there, sport! Beautiful day, isn't it?" He chimed. "You should go talk to Betty," he suggested. "She's over at the playground! Have fun, sport!"

James paused. Why on Earth would George send his son over to Betty? Timmy was _terrified_ of Betty.

Something was wrong.

James twitched his pointy ears to hear footsteps approaching closer. He turned around and saw a little girl in a dress running over.

All of a sudden his small animal heart seemed to stop. Was this Braun playing tricks on him? This was impossible. Impossible in every way. Braun had to have done something.

Either way James' daughter was running towards him right now. It was really her. Sylvia! But how? Why was she a little girl here?

Braun must have done something. If this was some kind of joke, James would flip some shit. And he wasn't saying that in the literal sense or the type to swear.

It was definitely Sylvia. Her blue eyes, her obnoxious curly blonde hair, with single vague strands of black. James never could figure out where it came from.

Sylvia entered the playground. James approached her but she ran right past him, oblivious to him maybe. "Wait!" he yelped, but it only came out as a bark... as usual.

Damn Braun.

As Sylvia approached Betty, James watched with caution. He sat down by his hole, ears fixated and eyes large. The animal sense of hearing was amazing to him, hearing even his daughter's quiet breathing from across the playground.

"Oh, someone new to play with!" Betty chimed with sarcasm. "What good luck I have lately! I was starting to get bored. We're gonna have _so_ much fun!"

"Who are you?" Sylvia demanded. Her tone sounded like she had meant business.

"I'm Betty, I live here on Tranquility Lane," Betty introduced. "Want to play a game?" She asked.

"No," Sylvia said quickly.

Betty laughed. "You don't _get_ to say no," she announced. "If I want to play a game, you'll play too. _I_ want too." She explained.

Sylvia was quiet. "Fine." She said.

"I knew you would!" Betty cheered. "All you have to do is make Timmy Neusbaum cry." She instructed.

"Who?" Sylvia asked.

"He's the other kid who lives here besides you," Betty told her. "He's such a crybaby, you'll see."

"I don't live..." James could feel his daughter tense up now. Maybe dogs really could sense people's feelings. "Okay." She said, turning to leave.

"See ya!" Betty said, her watering can somehow returning to her hand.

Sylvia turned and looked around, spotting the boy seated at the lemonade stand. As she walked her way over, James approached her wagging his tail.

She stared at him.

James whined. Was she afraid of dogs? Had she seen one out in the Wastes yet? He didn't want to frighten her. Her being here was his only chance of escaping.

"Good doggie," Sylvia said, patting his head. James had managed to lick her hand before she stepped back. He'd wanted to at least touch her again in case it would be the last time. "Stay." She said, leaving the playground.

Unable to leave anyway, James could only whine. He sat down, watching her walk up to Timmy.

"Hi there," he greeted. Sylvia obviously hesitated. James knew she wasn't the violent type. Even growing up provoked by Butch DeLoria did she not once ever raise a hand at the boy.

"Have you seen my dad?" She asked.

James literally jumped up. She'd come here to find him! But... how did she know where he was? Did she find Madison? She made it all the way to Rivet City from the _Vault_? And then all the way here?

"Your dad?" Timmy repeated. "Nope, sorry. Is he lost?" He asked.

James noticed that Sylvia's hands were shaking. _Oh no_... he whined as Sylvia for the first time swing her hand up and hit the boy with all she had.

"Ow!" he cried, immediately having tears roll down his face. As he started to sob, he got up and fled from Sylvia.

"Oh, sweetie," James said sadly, translating into whines. "You didn't have to do that..." More whines.

"Shut up, Doc." Braun said from afar.

James sent another growl just as Sylvia reentered the playground, strolling over to Betty.

"Wow, you sure showed him, huh?" She asked. "I suppose it wasn't the most..." James could feel Sylvia's confusion as Betty revealed her true voice. Braun's voice. "...most cerebral way to deal with that. But consider the game done. I'll give you a prize. You can ask one question, which I will answer the best I can." He offered.

Sylvia didn't waste time. "Where's my father?" She demanded.

"Your father?" Betty asked.

James wanted to bark, but he found himself suddenly mute. Damn Braun! "He's a scientist," Sylvia told him. "He's looking for Dr. Braun."

"Oh, my, what a pleasant turn of events. I had no idea you two were related!" Braun said. "I've seen your father, but he's unavailable at the moment." He admitted.

"What do I have to do to see him?" Sylvia asked.

* * *

James growled angrily as Sylvia went into house after house, obviously ignoring Betty's orders. Break up the Rockwells' marriage... ha! James knew his daughter wasn't dumb.

Watching her run around the lane, James found himself remembering her tenth birthday party. She'd been so happy that day. Getting her Pip-Boy, praise from everyone, her cake destroyed by Andy, and getting picked on by Butch as per usual.

After Jonas took their picture with Sylvia's new BB gun, she'd been eager to say how much fun her party was. James was glad nothing really bothered her then.

Thoughts aside, when some Chinese soldiers suddenly appeared in the lane speaking their native language, James whined from fear when they started to exterminate everyone.

When he saw Sylvia emerge from the abandoned house with yet a grin on her face, James realized she was saving everyone here by having them shot.

When a soldier approached him, he whined, backing away. A door appeared near Betty, and Sylvia disappeared. James didn't want her to see him get shot, whether he was a mutt or not. Moments later he saw Sylvia running towards the door, nearly dragging with her a very confused looking teenage girl and her mother. There was no way they were going to make it - if they were part of the original group who were in the Tranquility pods, there was no way... why was Sylvia still trying to save them?

Regardless, James ran away. He'd just managed to finally escape the playground premises when a sharp bullet pierced his side. Now he could feel _this_ , unlike that lemonade. He didn't give up though, he wasn't going to die like this. He used all four legs to turn around and dash toward the doorway. As soon as he leaped through, everything went white.

When his eyes opened again he saw himself in the Tranquility Lounger, hearing it pop open. Was he really free? As the capsule opened he actually groaned as he sat up in his chair.

Now he felt old after walking around as a dog for what seemed like forever... _Sylvia_. She was here. James climbed out of the lounger and slowly walked over towards the only other lounger that had opened.

And there she was. Sylvia. Not a child anymore... an adult. James would never accept that she'd grown up. She'd always be his little girl, even if she didn't need him anymore...

Now, wait. As happy as he was to see her here, was she feeling the same? She came all the way here to find him... what if she was angry at him for leaving her in the Vault?

Only one way to find out.

"You saved me," he said sincerely. "I thought I was trapped there forever..." He trailed. Sylvia didn't look happy yet.

Not good.

"It's so _good_ to see you," he continued. "But... what are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I came to find you," Sylvia finally said.

James crossed his arms. "I'm glad you did. I wasn't expecting this when I found Braun..."

"Good thing I came and saved you." She still didn't sound pleased. Was that sarcasm he heard?

"Yes, thank you honey," he said. "I'm so glad you did." He found himself repeating. Maybe he really was getting old.

"Can we get out of here now?" James noticed that she seemed... different. Tougher. Stronger.

"Yes, absolutely!" He said. "We need to get to Rivet City and tell Madison I have it... after all these years, we can finally restart Project Purity." He explained.

Now Sylvia looked confused. "What am _I_ supposed to do?" She asked.

"Yes... the fact that you got out of the Vault..." James pondered. "I don't even want to know _how_ you did it..."

James now scolded her because he could. She needed it. She wasn't supposed to leave the Vault. She was supposed to stay, and build a life for herself there underground.

 _Now_ he knew she was angry. "You left without telling me! What I was supposed to do?" She shrieked.

James reminded her that she should have stayed; promising to have had a good life, but now it was past that. There was no going back ever. So he decided that she should accompany him back to Rivet City.

"Fine," Sylvia scowled. "But, Dad?"

"Yes?" He said, noticing how her tone softened.

"Can we just talk for a minute?" She begged.

Wasn't that what they were doing now? James shrugged it off and said, "Of course, honey. What is it?"

He could see that she wanted to cry, but tried to prove she wouldn't by taking a deep breath. "How could you leave me like that?" She demanded, her tone rising again. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't want you to come out here...to the outside world," James told her in response. "I didn't tell you anything, because I didn't want you to follow me." He admitted.

"Why would you risk yourself like this?" She demanded next. "You want yourself a death wish?" Her tone was failing again.

"What?" James asked. "No, no, of course not!" He denied. "Just... this is important work... clean water could help restore the world. It's worth the risk to help, Sylvia." He explained.

"Help?" She repeated. "What about helping your own kid?" She reminded.

"I know that you're angry. You have a right to be." James assured.

"Damn right." Sylvia spat at him.

That took him off guard a little. "I just thought I did what was best for you."

"So abandoning me is what you thought was best?" Sylvia summed up.

"For twenty years I've done everything I could to give you the best life. In the Vault, not in the Wastes. I wouldn't say it as _abandoning_ , just... moving on. Knowing you'd be safe." He tried to explain.

Sylvia examined her Pip-Boy, checking the time maybe. "Okay..." She finally said. "Can we just... go? Please?" She asked.

"Yes," James hesitated, but then half eagerly, half forced himself to wrap his arms around his daughter. "I'm sorry for all of this." He whispered.

"It's okay," she always was forgiving, despite the circumstance. James felt himself smile, just as he heard some of the other Loungers open. "Wait, Dad..." Sylvia stopped. "We…"

Charon was standing by a Lounger. Well, by standing by a Lounger he was actually _hiding_ from it. "Charon, what are you doing?" Sylvia questioned.

"You befriended a ghoul?" James spat out of pure shock.

"And a dog but he's outside," Sylvia added. "Charon, what is it?"

The Lounger opened, and Sylvia and James approached it. "Wait, is that…" Sylvia realized. "The name Charon saw from one of the computers…"

"Which name?" James asked.

Sylvia looked at Charon nervously but also in confusion. _"Juliet-?"_


	3. I'm Wide Awake

Juliet was at ease. Then again she was always at ease. She couldn't remember the last time she felt anything different. Whenever she would think about that, all those annoying fuzzy feelings would come and Betty would give her a dirty look.

She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror after she woke up. Everything was sort of gray, so she never knew what color her eyes and hair are. Her eyes are light, so maybe they were green or blue. Her hair was light, so maybe it was blonde.

Her mother was in the kitchen when she went downstairs, washing dishes. Juliet wasn't hungry so instead she went straight outside. Her neighbor Timmy was selling lemonade. Unfortunately she didn't have any money so she wasn't able to buy a glass.

She waved at little Timmy as she walked over to the playground, where the dog was. "Hi Doc." She greeted him as she pat him gently. She didn't know where he came from, but she wasn't able to think of that.

She wasn't able to think of anything.

Betty would get angry.

Doc licked her hand as she turned to walk back to her house. She would sit outside for a while. Maybe ask her mother for some money to buy Timmy's lemonade.

Speaking of... there was a little girl about the same age as him on the sidewalk. She was adorable. She had the same light eyes as Juliet only they were slightly darker. Her hair was light too, but much lighter than Juliet's. It was like they were opposites.

"Hey," the little girl spoke to Juliet. "Have you seen my father?" She asked.

"Your father?" Juliet repeated. "I don't think do. Why don't you go ask Betty? I'm sure she'll know."

The little girl frowned. "That's what the boy's father said too."

Juliet only smiled in return. "I hope you find him."

She decided to watch the little girl. She went to Betty like suggested, and it seemed not even Betty knew where her father was. The next thing Juliet knew, the little girl ran back and punched Timmy! Betty must have made her do it. How awful!

Normally Juliet would have just sat there and let Timmy cry. Nothing new. But for some reason the fact that a strange little girl hurt him caused Juliet to have a real thought:

 _Where did she come from?_

She waited for Betty to get angry at her, but nothing happened. She was distracted for once so Juliet let slip another thought: Timmy was hurt. He needed help. Juliet jumped up and jogged over to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling down to him.

"Yeah, my jaw hurts," Timmy answered. "That girl is a bully! Just like..." He stopped, and widened his eyes.

"Just like what, Timmy?" Juliet questioned, also shocked she was speaking so much and... _thinking_ so much.

"Like the bullies from when I went to school," Timmy remembered. "Why don't I go to school anymore?"

"I used to go to school, too," Juliet said. "I... I had these best friends, they..."

"What were their names?" Timmy asked curiously, rubbing his jaw.

"I... I don't remember..." Juliet held her chin as she stood up and tried her hardest to-

 _"Yo, Jules!"_

"Bria," Juliet nearly gasped. "Her name was Bria, and then..."

 _"I'm gone one day and Juliet is already giving a new boy gifts?"_

"Anthony..." Juliet whispered in remembrance.

"Where are they?" Timmy asked. "I want to meet your friends."

Juliet shuddered. "I don't know where Bria is. Anthony... he disappeared. No one could find him."

"Maybe he got abducted by aliens," Timmy said playfully, and then groaned in pain.

"I'm going home," Juliet decided. "Put some ice on your jaw, okay?" She instructed. As she walked down the lane to her house, she passed Old Lady Dithers. "Mrs. Dithers?" She addressed. "What is going on?"

"What-what do you mean?" The old woman replied in horror.

"I'm thinking, Mrs. Dithers! _Thinking!_ Betty doesn't let us do that!" Juliet exclaimed. "And I'm remembering things from before I was here. How... how did I _get_ here?"

"We're not really here," she admitted. "We're not really talking. It's all made up! We're _sleeping_ , _dreaming_. The dream became a nightmare... It has to end, it just has to! But we're not in charge..." She looked across the lane at Betty. " _He_ is, and he doesn't want us to wake up!"

Juliet gulped. "I'm going to wake us up!" She exclaimed, running into her yard and into her house. She returned to her bathroom, holding the sides of the mirror as she stared at herself. Everything was black and white, she finally realized. What does she look like? She needs to remember...

Her eyes are blue. Her long hair is... blonde, but darker than that. It was strawberry blonde. That's right! "MOM?!" She screamed, sprinting downstairs. Her mother was drying dishes as she looked upon her daughter.

"Yes?" She said in a monotone that made Juliet sick to her stomach. They really were sleeping. They needed to wake up... but how?

Juliet's answer came in the form of a little girl bursting through the door moments later - the little girl looking for her father. "Juliet!" She called out.

"How do you know my name?" Juliet nearly yelped. Her mother just stood there without a word, still drying dishes as if she had to continue her trance.

"He doesn't want to admit it, but he wants to see you," The little girl informed. "Come on, I've found a way out of here but we have to go now!"

"Who-?" Juliet dared asked, and the child's response changed everything.

"Charon."

In that instant Juliet blinked, and it was like she could remember everything at once. It hit her so fast she nearly fell over.

The bombs.

The Chinese.

The war.

The end.

 _Charon._

Juliet was now in tears when she heard gunshots from outside. "We need to go!" The girl screeched.

"Mom!" Juliet turned and grabbed her wrist. She dropped her dish rag and was led out feeling confused. The girl took Juliet's hand and escorted them outside, where Chinese soldiers were gunning down everyone in the lane. Juliet screamed, praying that they wouldn't shoot her.

"Keep going! Get to the door!" The little girl screeched. Juliet barely had time to turn her head to make sure her mother was still following her. She appeared halfway out of her trance, but not fully like Juliet was.

"Juliet-?" She let out fearfully.

The little girl leaped through the door at the playground. Where the hell did that even come from? Betty was standing next to it, completely enraged. Juliet was almost afraid she'd stop them.

"Goodbye Juliet." She spoke... sadly. Juliet ignored her and plunged headfirst into the glowing white door with her mother.

* * *

The TV screen Juliet remembered seeing turned off in front of her eyes. The Lounger she remembered climbing into slowly opened. The tears that came from her eyes finally rolled down her face. Wait... she'd just started crying seconds ago, right?

So why did it feel like...

Her vision was beyond blurry but she could make out two figures approaching her. One had blonde hair much brighter than Juliet's. "Wait, is that..." Juliet heard one speak. It was a female. The blonde one. "The name Charon saw from one of the computers…"

Charon-?

Juliet wanted to move so badly but she was afraid of vomiting if she did. "Which name?" The other figure asked. It was a male.

The blonde female spoke nervously. "Juliet-?"

It was less blurry now so she looked down at them from the Lounger. Whoever the two of them were, they looked fairly alike. Upon better vision and closer inspection of the blonde lady, Juliet realized who she was, but it had to be impossible.

It was the little girl who'd woken her up. Only she wasn't little anymore.

"Juliet," she repeated. "Are you okay?"

"Where's my mom?" Were the first words out of her mouth. She attempted to lean forward but was suddenly overwhelmed by nausea.

"Don't do that, lean back," the man next to the lady ordered. "You've been sitting there for a very long time. It's best you don't move until your body can readjust."

Juliet wanted to ask how long she had sat there, and why he would say that. Just moments ago she crawled into the Lounger. To the right of her, she heard her mother gasp for air. "Mom-!" Juliet screeched hoarsely.

The older man went over to Autumn's Lounger, instructing her not to move as well. "I'd like to know why they're still alive," he added. "The other vault residents were murdered in the simulation."

"Why weren't _you_ killed?" The lady asked him. "Or me?"

The man had to think. Juliet turned her head to look at her mother. She was blinking slowly, staring at the man as he said, "Because we aren't the vault's original residents... which could mean they aren't either. When did they..."

"Juliet," the lady grabbed her attention. "Do you think you can move yet?"

She nodded as the lady held out her hand to help her climb off the Lounger. "I'm Sylvia," she introduced. "Can I ask you something?"

Juliet nodded again.

"What do you think today is?" Sylvia asked her.

Juliet frowned. "It's October 23, 2077." She answered.

Sylvia widened her eyes in pure shock as Juliet's mother spoke, "Is it safe to go outside? The bombs stopped already?"

Juliet ignored Sylvia and took a step toward her mother, but she felt a sharp pain in her waist. She stumbled but kept her balance. When she joined her mother, they weakly hugged each other as the man took his turn to speak.

"My name is James," he greeted. "I'm a half ass retired scientist. Sylvia is my daughter..."

 _Explains the similarity,_ Juliet thought to herself.

"This is going to come as a big shock, but... the bombs you speak of, that happened two hundred years ago." James finished.

Autumn let out a laugh as Juliet grew slightly stiff. "You think this is a joke?" Autumn spat. "The world's at war, didn't you know?"

Juliet looked deeply at Sylvia. Her blue eyes were darker than her own, but they looked so sad and afraid.

Her father wasn't kidding.

"Mom," Juliet let out. "He's serious."

Autumn scoffed. "I don't believe you, Juliet! Using jokes as repression isn't going to... hey, who's that over there?"

James and Sylvia turned around, and Juliet found herself looking across at a tall... a tall...

What the hell was that?

A person?

He sulked out of hiding, coming into view. He wore dark clothing, some kind of armor, but other than that he was red everywhere. He looked generally pissed off, letting out a low grumble. "What-?" Autumn simply said.

"He is a-" James started, but Juliet interrupted him with half a shriek.

 _"Charon-?"_

James was beside himself with confusion as Sylvia stepped back so Charon could walk up to the group. "Charon?" Autumn realized. "What happened to you?" She looked at James now. "You said two hundred years, so why is... I..."

Juliet couldn't even turn her eyes as her mother fainted. James knelt down to her, followed by Sylvia, and Juliet was frozen.

Was it really Charon? She could never forget the look in his eyes, but she needed to be sure.

Wait for it...

Patience...

Wait...

"Juliet." He finally spoke, and that was all she needed to hear. She always loved how he spoke her name, because he was the only one in the world who emphasized the last letter of her name.

She can't stop looking at him. Why was he so red? Why was he... like a zombie? Where was his skin? Her love of science from school began to kick in as she thought this out. He was there when the bombs fell, which means he was exposed to radiation... it had to have peeled his skin right off.

"Two hundred years?" She asked softly.

Charon cast his eyes upon Sylvia, who frowned at him. "We talked about this, Charon. You can talk to whoever you want."

A brief flash of anger ran through Juliet - why did she say that? As if she owned him or controlled him? She let it go for now when Charon spoke, "Yes, Juliet. Two hundred years. Everything you know is gone."

Juliet gulped. "Not everything. I still have you."

His reply crushed her heart instantly. "Not anymore. You do not hold my contract."

...contract-?

Juliet was seconds away from attacking Sylvia when the lady herself popped up. "Charon, can you go check to see if the way out of here is safe? I'll talk to Juliet."

"Yes." Charon obeyed, not letting a second go to waste as he turned and disappeared out of the Lounger room.

Sylvia now looked at Juliet. "It's not what you think it is, I promise. I don't know a whole lot, but all I know is that he was conditioned to obey whoever has his contract. When I got the contract, I told him I wasn't going to treat him like a slave, but he insists I'm just his new employer, so he'll serve me."

Juliet quivered as she started shaking, feeling horribly sick. "What happened to him-?"

"What do you mean?" Sylvia asked back. "Oh, wait... did you know him before he was a ghoul?"

Ghoul-? That's what it's called?

Juliet nodded at her. "I'm not sure. A lady from Underworld said it just happened to a lot of people after the war," Sylvia explained. "I'd love to ask you what Charon was like back then, but I don't think now is-"

 _Not anymore._

Juliet burst into a fit of tears, covering her eyes as she wept. Sylvia gave her father a look of remorse, trying to understand. It was hard for her to accept that she and her father were born out in the Wasteland, instead of Vault 101 like she was led to believe... but to be sleeping for two hundred years and waking up to crap like this?

Oh, hell... what were they going to do?


	4. Two Worlds Collide

It was safe to say it was awkward during the return trip to the surface. James had about a million questions to ask Autumn and Juliet, but he would wait until they reached a place called Rivet City, which he explained was a giant beach craft carrier turned into a city.

Sylvia and her father led the way out, while Juliet and her mother, who had reawakened thankfully, trailed behind them. "Are you okay, baby?" Autumn asked quietly.

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet answered. Honestly, she was far from okay, but she wasn't going to trouble anyone. She didn't feel comfortable, or safe for that matter. She wasn't even sure if she was in her right state of mind at this point.

"Don't let what Charon said get to you," Autumn continued. "If it's really been two hundred years... I don't think I could ever get over seeing you again after all that time."

Juliet frowned in response.

Upon reaching the Vault 112 entrance, they came across the two Robobrains. One of them had a crack in its case that protected the brain.

Juliet remembered because it felt like minutes ago when she first saw them:

 _"Hello," a Robobrain greeted._

 _"Let us in!" Autumn roared. "I have Project Downy Hair!"_

 _"Processing," the other Robobrain responded. "Access granted. Welcome, Mrs. Carlisle."_

"Hello ma'am," the same Robobrain spoke. "Are you Juliet?"

"No," Sylvia answered. "She's right there." She pointed behind her to the younger, strawberry blonde girl. Juliet confusingly approached the Robobrain.

"I have a message for you," it spoke again. "Recorded two hundred years ago from user unknown. Message repeat: **TELL HER I'LL BE WAITING FOR HER WHEN SHE GETS OUT**."

Juliet's heart dropped as James asked, "Who sent that?"

"Charon." Sylvia and Juliet answered in unison.

Juliet shred a very faint smile. Maybe there was hope after all.

* * *

"You crashed your car through the garage door?" James said in amusement, looking at the two century old damage across the garage.

"It feels like I only did it a few minutes ago," Autumn admitted, flipping back some of her long red hair. Sylvia made a big deal about that, saying she had never seen anyone with red hair before.

"Ouch," Juliet groaned, touching the right side of her waist. It throbbed horribly.

"Are you alright?" Sylvia quickly asked.

"Yeah, yeah, it just hurts sometimes. I got hit by a truck." Juliet told her.

"What's a truck?" Sylvia wondered.

Juliet stared at her, and then at James, who only shrugged. "A truck is a bigger kind of car." Autumn explained.

"Bigger than _your_ car?" Sylvia said innocently.

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet said, feeling another painful throb.

James led the way through the door to the outside. Autumn about fell over from what the fallout looked like. Grass didn't exist anymore. What few trees were left were dead and bare. Giant rocks formed over the land as far as she could see.

"Jesus Christ." She gaped in horror.

"We need to get going," James advised. "It's a long way to walk to Rivet City."

A dog was over by Charon, whom Sylvia called over and introduced as Dogmeat. "Interesting name." Autumn muttered.

Now, James wasn't kidding. It took them nearly the rest of the day going east, with some shortcuts through D.C. Charon revealed.

Sylvia took this time to try to learn more about Juliet, and even Charon if she could. "How did you guys meet?"

Juliet looked at him nervously as he let out, "She was following me."

 _Juliet waited until he started to cross before she slowly turned to follow him. When he'd crossed he suddenly stopped, Juliet also. He turned around sharply as Juliet gasped._

 _Before he saw, she also turned around and saw a Nuka-Cola machine against the wall of the coffee shop. She dug some quarters out of her pocket and put them in the slot, grabbing the cold drink as it hit the bottom._

 _When she turned back around, she watched the boy inside the cafe. Wait... he wasn't there! Where did he—_

 _"Why are you following me?"_

 _Squawking, Juliet looked to her right to see the boy staring down at her nearly dead on. "What?" She said loudly. "I'm not following you! I-I, was just—"_

"Was not," she pouted.

"That sounds better than how I met you," Sylvia admitted. "The guy who had his contract before I did was... well... I think Charon wouldn't mind saying it again."

"He was an evil bastard," Charon growled. "I do not feel bad for killing him."

Both Juliet and Autumn gulped. He killed people-? That was... kind of scary for them.

Autumn and Juliet were introduced to raiders, and mutated creatures called Radscorpions and Molerats, which they understood how they came to be - mutated from radiation.

But when they first set eyes on a Super Mutant, Autumn's blood curling screams revealed their position to every Super Mutant nearby.

That was fun to run from.

It was dusk when they were crossing the bridge to Rivet City. Juliet and Autumn were exhausted - how did the others look totally fine?

A security guard of sorts was standing idle as they closed in, turning the valve on the left side door. "So this is basically a giant boat?" Autumn realized.

"Yeah," Sylvia confirmed. "Have you ever been on one?"

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet gleamed. "Charon and I took one to Point Lookout," she looked up at the ghoul. "Do you remember?" She tried to ask cheerfully.

 _"I have a bad feeling about this trip."_

 _"You said your mother was okay with you going."_

 _"No, she is okay with it. I'm talking about... What if...?"_

 _"Nothing will happen, Juliet. But if anything does happen... I will take care of you."_

Why was he remembering that? He wasn't supposed to remember anything. Instead he grumbled an answer. "Anthony disappeared there."

Juliet frowned, missing her old best friend from... two hundred years ago.

This was insane.

Two hundred years.

* * *

Rivet City wasn't even a city. It was really just a bunch of people living on a giant boat. The group walked through the midship deck to get to the science lab, which Juliet was excited about. She told Sylvia about her love of science, how she always did well in that subject in school. This pleased James greatly. During most of the trip, he was afraid of the influence people from two hundred years ago would have on himself and his daughter, but it turns out... they weren't really different.

As soon as they entered the aft hanger James took off for the stairs that led down to the lab. Sylvia sighed, thinking that he was such a child sometimes, and struggled to keep up with him. Juliet peered over the balcony to watch the entire scene.

"James? You're back?" An older, Asian lady acted completely stunned.

"I told you it would work, Madison," James said in glee. "I was right about Dr. Braun, and the G.E.C.K. If we can get one, we can use it for the purifier."

 _What the hell are they talking about?_ Autumn thought to herself. _Braun's a basket case!_

Next thing she knew, the lady known as Madison was staring up at them. "They're from the past?"

Charon let out another grumble. This would be fun to explain.

James explained to Madison and the other scientists with her about Dr. Braun's Tranquility Loungers, how his technology was able to preserve them and keep them alive for all this time. "He sounds like a genius." Madison admitted.

Autumn simply rolled her eyes. If they only knew...

It took the scientists a few minutes to pack, which allowed Juliet and Autumn to eat some of the food Madison offered. They mostly has fresh fruit, which the mother and daughter practically inhaled to satisfy their empty stomachs.

As Madison closed the lab up James and Sylvia again led the way, this time to a place the scientists called Project Purity. One of them, Anna Holt, was walking with Autumn and Juliet and eagerly loading them questions.

"How old are you?"

"I'm..." Autumn stopped for a second. "Two hundred thirty-six years old. My daughter is two hundred seventeen years old."

"Where did you live?"

"In D.C. Takoma Park."

"Where did you get water?"

"From anywhere really. Our sink, our bathtub, our toilet... we didn't drink from that of course, or we could buy it from the store in bottles or gallons."

"None of it was radiated?"

"No ma'am."

The questions were non-stop until they reached the entrance to the gift shop of The Jefferson Memorial, where James brought up the matter of Super Mutants inside the memorial. This nearly threw Autumn into a panic until Sylvia said she and Charon would go in and secure the facility.

"I want to help." Juliet offered.

"Absolutely not!" Autumn squealed in defense.

Juliet glared into her mother's brown eyes. "Mom, you ruined my life when you put us in that vault! You can't decide what I do anymore!" She angrily tramped into the gift shop. Instinct befell Charon as he went after her.

 ** _We'll help you forget._**

Deep inside his mind, he wanted to talk to Juliet so badly. Ever since he saw her pop out of the Lounger _alive_ after two centuries, he wanted nothing more than to grab her and never let her go again.

 ** _We'll help you get better._**

But he couldn't. He had a contract to follow.

 ** _You're going to be just fine, Charon._**

Tough shit, Charon. All he could do was keep an eye on her.

A long hallway was laid out before them. Juliet was a few feet ahead, standing by the left wall with her arms crossed. Sylvia approached her with a weapon. "This is a 10mm pistol. Try to aim for the head." She explained.

Juliet accepted the gun and looked at it in horror, gulping silently and following Sylvia down the hall. "Is that a bunk bed?" She noticed as the hallway split into four.

"Is that what it's called?" Sylvia realized. "I thought they were just double beds."

"Yeah, yeah, they're called bunk beds. That one is missing the mattresses, though." Juliet noticed.

Sylvia nodded. "I think the rest of the Super Mutants will be in the basement. That's the only place we haven't been to." She continued.

Clearly she was right. Dogmeat took off like a bullet when the basement door opened. Sylvia trudged after him down the stairs only to be greeted by a Super Mutant who yelled, "FOUND YOU!" And swung a nailboard at them.

Charon flew down the stairs, pumping shotgun lead into the creature. Juliet was the last one down in time to watch the mutant drop dead. She felt useless... why did she want to come?

She looked around. There were destroyed desks and shelves, which caused her to wonder what kind of work went on here. Across the room was a fence that appeared to surround a pool of water.

 _"No more games... time to DIE!"_

Juliet yelped when an armored Super Mutant appeared from a hallway to the right of the fence, charging at them. She held up the 10mm, begging mentally to get a good shot, when something insane happened.

To Juliet, time froze completely. Nothing moved. Sylvia, Dogmeat, Charon, and the Mutant all remained completely immobile.

The Super Mutant's face was glowing.

Glowing. Fucking GLOWING.

 _What-?_

It would be useless to aim for the armored head. If she could shoot the rifle out of its hands...

Now its arm was glowing.

GLOWING!

Juliet fired her gun and time resumed. The bullet pierced the Super Mutant's wrist perfectly. It dropped its weapon, resulting in Sylvia and Charon killing it easily.

Juliet stood there, temporarily lifeless. Nausea hit her hard and she felt like she was going to-

Just before she fell unconscious, something spoke into her mind that sounded like...

 _Code Downy Hair Activated._


	5. I Am Machine

Juliet opened her dark blue eyes slowly. "Baby?" She heard Autumn speak. Juliet felt she was laying on a sofa in the gift shop. It was old and dirty as hell but it sure was comfortable. "Do you know who I am?" She heard Autumn ask.

"Uh, you're Mom?" Juliet answered in confusion, sitting up on the sofa. What kind of question was that?

"Oh, thank God," Autumn sobbed. "I thought your activation would erase your memory."

"Huh?" Juliet slurred. Her head was throbbing horribly.

"I never wanted this to happen, but in case it did, I would tell you everything after you were activated." Autumn wiped the tears from her brown eyes. "Listen to me, okay? What I'm going to tell you is going to upset you."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "We slept for two hundred years, Mom. Can it get any worse?"

Autumn fearfully nodded. "My father worked for Vault-Tec. When I finished school, he was able to get me a job. I was a young girl doing a man's job so it was difficult, until Dr. Braun discovered me, and recruited me into his Future-Tec program. One of his ideas was that instead of Pip-Boys... he wanted to implant that technology into people's brains. Obviously that failed, but his stubborn ass wouldn't give up."

Juliet stared in silence. Her mother worked for Vault-Tec?!

"Instead of implanting the technology into an _existing_ brain..." Autumn gulped. "He _created_ it. You were going to be named Julien, which means 'downy hair' thus... Project Downy Hair. He never expected you to turn out a girl. None of us did."

Juliet gasped mentally. "I... I-I'm a _machine_ -?"

Autumn jolted. "No, baby! You are human! Braun gave you his DNA. You are a miracle. A hybrid. Half human, half... Vault-Tec."

 _A miracle._

 _A hybrid._

 _Half human._

 _Half Vault-Tec._

Juliet felt sick to her stomach. Was this reality? Autumn wasn't her mother? She has Vault-Tec inside of her?

"When you were born, I had already met your father, and he had Julia. I knew in the end you were going to be nothing more than a lab rat, so I took you, and your father helped us go into hiding ever since."

Okay, that was insane too. But only one thing bothered Juliet then. "He already had Julia-? You're not her mother-?"

Autumn shook her head slowly. "Her real mother died giving birth to her. She was still so small when I met her, I raised her as my own, as I did you."

This definitely wasn't real. Julia wasn't her sister. Their father wasn't her father. Autumn lied about... _everything_.

Juliet's response was, "I don't feel good."

"It will take some time for your brain to process your activation." Autumn admitted. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this. I was never expecting you to hold a gun in your life. Sylvia thinks she knows what you were doing that caused the trigger. She's in the basement if you-"

Juliet got up and bolted. She needed to get away from that woman. That liar. That stranger. That thief.

Sadly, as she reached for the basement door, Sylvia, Charon, and the dog appeared. "Hey!" Sylvia said nervously. "Are you alright?"

Juliet read Sylvia's jumpsuit. She no longer wore Vault 112, but instead 101.

Vault 101.

Juliet felt her left eye twitch slightly as-

 _Evaluation of performance of an omnipotent, dictatorial overseer in a closed community._

Computer logs ran through Juliet's mind, but she wasn't able to focus and read any of them, instead she spoke coldly, "We are born in the vault, we live in the vault, and we die in the vault."

Sylvia looked terrified now as her face went extremely pale. "How-how-HOW DID YOU-WHERE DID YOU-?!"

Juliet shakily held up her hand in defense. "I don't know. I'm... I'm Project Downy Hair."

Sylvia widened her eyes. "What your mother said? About having vault technology in your brain?"

"She's not my mother," Juliet retorted. "I... I need to get out of here."

"Come with us to the Rotunda." Sylvia offered, calming down. Juliet nodded and let her take point.

Charon glanced down at Juliet as they walked across the gift shop. Project Downy Hair... come on, it'll return to him, just wait-

 _"An old lady just up and shot three men?!" Emma exclaimed._

 _"You didn't call the police-?" Bria wondered confusingly._

 _"Mom said not to," Juliet remembered. "She said... not to worry about it."_

 _"What the f-" Bria started, but the bell rang to resume classes. Juliet took hold of Charon's hand like normal but walked slightly slower than normal. Charon on the other hand, was trying to figure out what the hell Project Downy Hair was. No way those Vault-Tec men would find the wrong Autumn. She was married so of course her name would change._

 _She was hiding something._

 _Question was... **what**?_

He'd finally gotten an answer two hundred years later. Huh.

In the Rotunda, Sylvia returned to her father and came back holding a bunch of fuses. "Back to the basement we go." She spat sarcastically. For an instant, Juliet was reminded of Julia, and she shred a smile. Despite how screwed up her life was right now, she was slowly starting to like this woman.

Juliet thought of her sister as they ventured through the Memorial basement to find the power box that needed new fuses, in order to access the mainframe. Sylvia took this time to explain all of what she knew of Project Purity - which really wasn't much. Just an old dream to purify water for everyone.

Juliet was sick of projects at this point.

On the other end of the basement, they were able to enter the mainframe, where the switch was waiting to be turned on, which would power up the Rotunda. Sylvia pushed the switch and moments later, James spoke through an intercom on the left wall of the room.

 _"There are a few minor repairs up here that still need... wait, Janice says there's blockage in one of the intake pipes."_ He gave directions on how to get there, and sent them on their merry way.

* * *

"Okay, it smells so bad down here," Sylvia gagged as they went through another grate. "It smells like that place we had to put the observer in the mirelurk eggs."

"Otherwise known as a sewer." Charon let out.

They went through yet another grate. "Is that the valve up there? Tell me that's the valve." Sylvia begged.

"It's the valve." Charon promised. All around the valve was nothing but fencing so they could vaguely see outside. Just as soon as Charon turned the valve, huge flying things landed on the Memorial platform.

"What are those things?" Sylvia gawked.

"Helicopters," Juliet answered. "Who are they?" How the hell can people fly helicopters in an apocalyptic wasteland?

"This isn't good." Charon whipped out his combat shotgun. Several men piled out of the helicopters, some of them wearing-

"The Enclave," Charon realized. "We need to go. Now."

"I'm not leaving my dad!" Sylvia yelped, her grey-blue eyes flaring angrily. "Or the other scientists! Or Juliet's mom!"

"Fine!" Charon growled. "Be cautious." He advised as he led them out of the pipes, returning them back to the basement. Unfortunately, the ground was quite a ways down. Charon jumped anyway, landing in a small pool of water.

"Crap," Sylvia groaned. "There's no way I'm-" She screamed when Juliet pushed her from behind. The Lone Wanderer plunged into the water, followed by Juliet. For the brief moment she was under water, a timer of some sort flashed in her mind, counting down at an average rate, but disappeared when she surfaced. Her hands remained in the water, and something was burning in her mind:

 ** _+1 RAD/SEC_**

This water was radiated. Well, of course it was. Juliet dunked herself under and the timer flashed in her mind, and she realized it was telling her how long she could hold her breath under water.

THIS WAS CRAZY!

She really did have Vault-Tec inside of her. And she absolutely hated it.

When everyone was out of the water (and soaked double thanks to Dogmeat shaking his wet fur on them all) they were near the basement entrance. "I'll forgive you this time!" Sylvia huffed at Juliet. "Now let's find out what's going on!"

There was an Enclave person right as they exited the basement, wearing big, metal-like armor. Juliet jumped out of the way while the others went to work. When the Enclave person dropped dead, Sylvia yelled, "Juliet, pick up his laser rifle!"

What the hell? Laser rifles exist?

Juliet was afraid to touch the gun. What if... what that slow motion thing happened?

 _It will take some time for your brain to process your activation._

She sighed to herself. This is who she was now. She would need to learn to control whatever she was capable of. She bravely snatched the laser rifle and followed the others to the Rotunda.

* * *

Autumn Carlisle simply stared at the man known as Colonel Autumn as he said, "By the authority of the president, this facility is now under government control."

From the corner of James' eye, he saw his daughter just outside of the Rotunda. _Safe_. Thankfully he locked it. "This is a private project," he spoke. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Are you the one in charge?" Colonel Autumn raised an eye.

"Yes." James confirmed sternly.

"Then I need you to hand over all materials relating to the project, and you are to assist Enclave scientists to continue this." Colonel Autumn insisted.

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but this facility has never been operable." James told the man.

The Colonel narrowed his eyes angrily, pulled out a pistol, and shot the other Autumn point blank in the head.

Dr. Li gasped, and Juliet-

She couldn't-

She couldn't-

She-

She...

"MOM?!" She wailed, pressing her entire body against the Rotunda glass. "MOM?!"

"Oh my God..." Sylvia whimpered.

"I suggest you comply in order to prevent any more incidents." Colonel Autumn threatened.

"Yes, I'll do whatever you want, no more violence please," James begged. "Let me get the system online." He turned around to the mainframe of the Rotunda.

Tears softened Juliet's dark blue eyes as she continued to stare at her mother's body. Blood was oozing out of her head, soaking into her long, auburn hair.

She was dead.

She was... _dead_.

Just like everyone else from her old life.

She was dead.

Juliet barely flinched as the interior glass of the Rotunda shattered, and radiation poured in. Colonel Autumn injected himself with Rad-X. James stumbled over to the glass door that separated him and his daughter. "Dad?!" She panicked.

"Run!" He ordered her, dropping down to his knees. "RUN!"

"NO!" Sylvia pounded and kicked on the glass.

"They'll be coming for us next," Dr. Li realized. "We have to evacuate!"

Dogmeat was barking. Charon grabbed Sylvia, who was in a fit of hysteria. Meanwhile Dr. Li put her hand on Juliet's shoulder, who was behaving the opposite of Sylvia. "We have to get out of here, Juliet."

"Is there a safe way out of here?" Charon asked, fighting with a delusional Sylvia.

"There's an abandoned tunnel we used in the gift shop," Dr. Li remembered. "I'll show you." She held Juliet's wrist firmly and escorted everyone out of the Rotunda. Sylvia was screaming for her father, and Juliet was speechless, horrible thoughts haunting her.

 _"No, baby! You are human! Braun gave you his DNA. You are a miracle. A hybrid. Half human, half... Vault-Tec."_

 _"I knew in the end you were going to be nothing more than a lab rat, so I took you, and your father helped us go into hiding ever since."_

 _She needed to get away from that woman. That **liar**. That **stranger**. That **thief**._

Juliet realized her mother died thinking she hated her, and this was something she could never forgive herself for. Ever.

She was truly alone now.


	6. The Price to Play

In the taft tunnels, Juliet was standing next to Alex Dargon, who was paranoid beyond belief. Charon was loading up his shotgun, and a distraught Sylvia handed Daniel Agincourt a pistol.

"They didn't see us go down here," Charon encouraged. "I need everyone to stay quiet as we get the hell out of here."

Juliet heard Garza breathing heavily, so she willed herself to look at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." He promised.

The group didn't encounter any trouble until the boiler room, which was swamped with Enclave soldiers. Sylvia and Charon were on both sides of the door, going to war. "Juliet!" Sylvia screeched. "Can you help us?!"

"H-how?" Juliet rasped, looking down at the laser rifle she forgot she was holding.

Sylvia grimaced. "What you did to the Super Mutant - can you do it again?"

Juliet blinked. _Code Downy Hair._ She had to learn. She had to do it.

Without a word, she took a few steps forward, bravely going into the boiler room, startling the soldiers from her bold presence. She held out the laser rifle, closed one eye to aim, focused as hard as she could... and time stood still.

The Enclave soldier closest to her was her target. The arm was glowing, so Juliet let out a laser round. Time resumed, and the soldier dropped the weapon. Juliet did this to every soldier; what felt like minutes to shoot away all their weapons happened in mere seconds. When the battle was over, Juliet waited to collapse, but nothing happened.

"That was awesome!" Sylvia cheered. "At this rate, we'll get out of here in no time!"

Juliet was dead silent as everyone continued through the tunnels. Garza was then moments away from having a heart attack, so Sylvia stuck him with a few stimpaks until he was able to move again. After that, the only problem they came across were some feral ghouls. Juliet panicked when the others shot at them - so Dr. Li had to explain "feral" to her. Ghouls who had lost their minds and were now dangerous.

Juliet then looked at Charon. "You're not feral?"

He thought this was absolutely hilarious. "Not yet."

After the ghouls they came across more soldiers, only their armor was grey. "Brotherhood of Steel," Dr. Li realized. "We're almost to the Citadel."

The Citadel-?

Charon looked down at Juliet. "Wait until you see what it is."

"The Citadel was here before The Great War?" Sylvia realized.

"Yes, but it wasn't called the Citadel," Charon continued. "It was called..."

* * *

Juliet about fell over when she saw the Citadel. "The Pentagon?!" She screeched in half hysteria.

"What was the Pentagon?" Sylvia wondered, as Brotherhood soldiers were escorting them into the Citadel's interior.

"Headquarters for the United States military." Charon answered.

Dr. Li scoffed. "Makes sense that the Brotherhood would assume control of it."

As soon as they entered the courtyard- "Sarah Lyons?" Sylvia said in recognition to the woman in Brotherhood armor, bearing blonde hair in a ponytail, standing behind an old man Dr. Li referred to as Elder Lyons. They were related, right?

"You?" Sarah Lyons said back.

Juliet frowned when Sarah Lyons glanced at her. She gave her a small smile, and Juliet widened her eyes. "Julia-?"

"That's not Juli-" Charon was interrupted by a thud.

"Oh!" Alex Dargon gasped. "She fainted!"

 _Julia?_

 _Julia._

 _Julia, where are you?_

 _I'm **dead** you moron. And I didn't have blonde hair, either. You're losing your **mind** , Juliet. Get it **together**._

 _I can't. I'm all alone._

 _No you're not. You still have Charon._

 _No I don't._

 _Just give him time. It's probably still a shock that you're walking and talking again._

 _Julia-_

 _Shut up._

Juliet's blue eyes pierced open as she heard a Mister Handy or a Mister Gutsy speaking. "She is awake."

"Charlie-?" She whispered.

"No, the robot is named Sawbones." A young boy corrected. Juliet turned her head to see the boy standing next to her stretcher. He was maybe around ten, with short dark hair and faint blue eyes.

"Who are you?" Juliet questioned.

"I am Squire Maxson. Honored to meet you." He introduced.

"You don't have to be so formal, Squire," Juliet insisted. "Where are we?"

"In the infirmary, ma'am," Maxson answered. "I've brought you some food to eat." He added, handing a tray over onto her lap as she sat up on the raised stretcher. There was a bottle of Nuka-Cola and a bowl of noodles. The noodles didn't quite look right, but Juliet scarfed them down as Maxson asked, "Ma'am, are you really a Pre-War Human?"

"I guess so," Juliet sighed. "I slept through most of it. I wish I never woke up."

"Why?"

"My mom died. My boyfriend turned into a ghoul and can't look me in the eye."

"The ghoul that was with you guys?"

"Yeah, yeah... is he still here?"

"Yes, they're in A-Wing. I can take you."

Juliet inhaled the rest of her noodles and chugged down the Nuka-Cola that not only was two hundred years old, her Vault-Tec brain told her it was very slightly irradiated. She hopped off the stretcher and followed Maxson, avoiding Sawbones. She didn't want to think of Charlie.

Either Charlie for the that matter.

Maxson led her down the hall and into the last room on the left. A person in a red robe was looming over Sylvia, sat at a computer. "How are you going to find that vault?" The lady in the robe asked.

"Maybe Scribe Rothchild can help," Sylvia suggested, standing up and then looking alarmed. "Juliet!"

"Hi." She greeted quietly.

Sylvia suddenly grinned. "Can I ask you something?"

Juliet shrugged as Sylvia asked next, "Do you know what a G.E.C.K. is?"

She stood still as things ran through her mind at the word G.E.C.K. which wasn't even a word to begin with. "It's a terraforming device. It stands for The Garden of Eden Creation Kit. It was made by... Dr. Braun."

Also known as her birth father.

"How did you know that?" The lady in the robe said in amazement. Juliet quickly looked away.

"I have an idea!" Sylvia interrupted. "We have to get to the lab."

* * *

Juliet didn't care what her idea was; as soon as she saw the giant ass robot in the lab, her love of science kicked in and her eyes were glued.

Finally Sylvia dragged her away and stood her in front of a large orange map. "D.C. is here," Sylvia tapped her index finger towards the bottom right. "Do you know where Vault 87 is?"

Juliet winced as yet more computer logs breezed her mind. "Only a concentrated form of Forced Evolutionary Virus." She chanted.

"What?" Scribe Rothchild asked.

"Vault 87 is here. Northwest." Juliet placed her palm over the location.

"That is correct," Rothchild said in awe. "I need to warn you if you're going there. The entrance is heavily radiated. There is another way in, however-"

"Lamplight Caverns," Juliet finished. "Charon's sister went there for a field trip and my sister helped chaperone." She blurted.

Rothchild looked at Sylvia as she said, "She lived before the war."

"How is that possible?" Rothchild spat. "She doesn't look like a ghoul."

"Can I tell him?" Sylvia looked at Juliet for permission.

"Yeah, yeah," she waved off. "I'm going to look at that robot again."

After a little while, it was evening. Juliet had dinner with just about everyone else in the mess hall. She ate rather quickly and escaped out to the courtyard. Sylvia eventually found her, and sat down next to her near the training grounds.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Juliet replied.

"How are you handling everything?"

"I'm okay. How are you handling?"

"I'm okay too. I miss my dad."

"I miss my mom."

Sylvia shuddered. "Was Julia your sister?"

"Yeah, yeah." Juliet answered.

Sylvia chuckled. "I think it's so funny how you say 'yeah' twice like that."

Juliet shrugged. "I've been doing that for as long as I can remember."

"Charon had a sister too?"

"Yeah, yeah... Charlie. She was beautiful. Outgoing. Happy."

"I wish I could have met her."

"You would have loved her. I loved her."

"I'm sorry."

Juliet whimpered. "I miss everything."

Sylvia put an arm over her. "You can come with us to find the vault if you want. I sure could use someone like you in my travels. And... I'm sure Charon would want you around too."

"I don't know about that."

"You'll see, Juliet. Everything is going to work out." Sylvia promised. For half a second, Juliet was sure it was Julia who spoke.

She really was losing her mind.

* * *

Juliet slept like crap that night, and felt groggy for hours while she, Dogmeat, Charon and Sylvia walked to a place called Megaton. "Welcome. To. Mega. Ton. Have. A nice. Day." The Protectron Deputy Weld assumed his usual greeting to them.

"Are you into robots?" Sylvia finally decided to ask.

"Science is my strongest subject," Juliet admitted. "I never knew why but... I guess it's because I was made from science."

Sylvia frowned briefly before changing the subject. "Then wait until you see what's in the middle of town. It's not dangerous anymore, though."

Recently being in the Pentagon was just as shocking as expecting a gigantic nuclear bomb in the middle of town. On her walk towards it, Juliet discovered a... two headed flesh cow the locals corrected as a Brahmin. "Ain't never heard of no cow before." Jenny Stahl nearly laughed at her.

Juliet shook her head and stared up at the nuke. "New in town, huh?" Jenny pestered her.

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet shrugged. "Miss Wozniak, if you could see me now..." She longed to hear her chemistry teacher's voice again.

 _"We are going on a field trip to the Museum of Technology on Friday. I'll pass out the permission slips in a minute. I don't want any excuses for not returning it to me signed. Apart from that, take out your notebooks. We're taking notes today."_

Juliet wanted to hear any familiar voice. Anyone from her old life. Except for...

"Juliet."

She remained still as Charon appeared next to her. "Charon." She replied blankly.

The ghoul hesitated. "I haven't had a chance to-" His words were replaced by a loud, sharp pitch erupting in Juliet's ears, and something rattled her mind.

Frequency waves. The vault technology in her brain was trying to broadcast a radio message to her. "Automated message from Vault 101." She spoke.

"What-?" Charon said in confusion.

Juliet held her temples as the message read in her mind:

 _It feels like you left home a long time ago. I hope you're still alive. Things have gotten worse since you left. My father has gone mad with power. Please stop looking for your dad and help me stop mine. I changed the door password to my name... if you hear this and you still care enough to help me, you'll remember it._

Juliet lowered her hands and thought quickly, ignoring Charon's questioning stare. Vault 101. _Stop looking for your dad..._

Sylvia wore a Vault 101 jumpsuit. Juliet needed to get back to her... now.


	7. Quest for Roar

**A/N: I just wanted to say that if anyone is confused about Juliet... she is basically a human Pip-Boy!**

* * *

"This can't be happening," Sylvia whimpered. "Everyone in there hates me and my dad!"

"The lady who sent out the broadcast wouldn't ask you for help if she hated you," Juliet argued.

Sylvia gulped, nervously looking at her ghoul companion. "You can't go in. They've never seen the outside... they wouldn't understand."

Charon grunted.

Now she looked at Juliet. "Will you go with me?"

"Yeah, yeah."

The Lone Wanderer took a deep breath before slowly opening the wooden door to the cavern. It seemed so long ago she was on the other side, tripping over the skeletons and barely making it out the door, discovering the sun for the first time.

Now she was going back home.

"Be careful," Charon nearly pleaded to Juliet and Sylvia. What he didn't realize was that he never actually said it, he only thought it. When they were long gone, he sat down on a large rock next to Dogmeat.

Fuck.

Christ.

 _Juliet_.

She was made by goddamn Vault-Tec.

Her mother died.

Alive.

 _Juliet_.

Human.

Vault-Tec.

 _Juliet_.

 ** _We'll help you forget._ _We'll help you get better._ _You're going to be just fine, Charon._**

He needed to stop thinking.

* * *

At the vault entrance, Sylvia shakily input the new password. The massive vault door pushed backwards and slid open. The first thing they noticed was a body by the opposite control panel. "J-Jim?" Sylvia recognized, kneeling down to look over him. "He tried to leave... and they stopped him."

"HOLD IT!"

The pair turned to see a security officer aiming a pistol at them. "I don't know how you got in here, but-"

"Officer Gomez!" Sylvia squeaked.

"Sylvia?" He remarked. "Holy shit, you're alive!" He nearly laughed.

"Yeah, I'm alive. Where's Amata?" Sylvia questioned.

"Amata?" Officer Gomez repeated. "She... look, I could get in trouble just for looking at you!"

"What kind of trouble?"

"Everything went crappy when your dad left. He-he's not with you?"

 _Here it comes._

"He's dead."

Officer Gomez frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was a good friend to me. The Overseer made sure no one else would try to leave. I guess he wasn't expecting you to come back... with company." He lowered his weapon. "Some of your friends want to leave here. You should see them... I won't tell anyone I saw you two."

Sylvia nodded. "Thank you."

Juliet was on high alert as they entered the atrium.

"You gonna lock me up like you did Brotch? You can't cage a Tunnel Snake!"

"Stay back, Freddie!"

 _Pow._

"Freddie!" Sylvia shrieked, and this startled Juliet. One second, she had her laser rifle out. The next second, time froze. The third second, she shot the gun out of the old man officer's hand. There had to be a name for this process right? Slow motion was getting old. When time resumed, Juliet's Vault-Tec brain gave her the answer.

Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System.

VATS.

Son of a bitch.

"Mr. Taylor!" Sylvia exclaimed. "You shot at Freddie!"

"It was an accident!" Mr. Taylor argued. "He had a knife! You can't be too careful with those rebels!"

"Rebels?" Sylvia repeated. Juliet lowered her weapon.

"Go away," Mr. Taylor moaned. "This is all your fault."

"I'm sorry," Sylvia replied. "Come on, Juliet."

* * *

In the cafeteria, a middle aged woman paid them no mind in her drunken state. "She's always been like that." Sylvia whispered. When they made it to the upper atrium with no issues, they were stopped yet again.

Juliet's eyes nearly popped out of her head. It was a young man with a... horribly familiar haircut standing a few feet away.

The King.

Juliet's idol.

"Butch?" Sylvia scoffed.

"Look who came back!" Butch hooted. "You've got a lot of... whoa, who's that pretty girl behind you?"

Juliet blushed.

"Ignore him!" Sylvia groaned.

Butch grinned. "Since you're here, you have to help us."

"Are you a rebel?" Juliet assumed.

"Pretty WITH a hot voice!" Butch cheered. "Sylvia, you shouldn't have!"

"I _will_ kill you, Butch." Sylvia threatened.

"There's the goody two shoes I remember," Butch claimed. "Come with me, both of you."

In the clinic now, not only did Sylvia feel extremely homesick, she was also flattened by Amata hugging her. "YOU CAME BACK!"

Butch poked Juliet's shoulder, urging her to step out of the clinic with him. She nodded and followed him out. "So what's your name, pretty girl?" He asked her.

"Juliet," she introduced.

"And you live... outside?" Butch continued.

Juliet shook her head. "I used to. I was in Vault 112."

This caused Butch to widen his eyes. "There are other vaults?"

"There are many." She admitted, her computer like mind listing all the nearby vaults.

"Well... damn."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What kind of gun are you holding?" He asked her curiously. Juliet was slightly surprised. She felt alien in this new world, and now there are people... like her.

Sylvia emerged from the clinic. "I'm going to talk to the Overseer. Juliet, it's better if you stay here. He already won't be happy to know I'm here, but if he saw that I brought an outsider in..."

"I understand," Juliet said. "I will stay here. Butch will keep me company."

Sylvia sighed and went on her way. Everything was happening way too fast.

Dad... died.

She was back home on a mission to save everyone.

Then there was Juliet, a two hundred year old teenaged girl who had a history with Charon that neither of them wanted to talk about, especially to each other. She would think of something to do about them after she confronted the Overseer. When she did just that, she swallowed nervously at the sight of him. He was simply sneering at her.

"Well, well, well..." He spoke.

"Alphonse," Sylvia choked. "Please..."

* * *

Juliet wondered if these people of Vault 101 knew the real purpose of them being here. It was logged into her brain. Sure, the vaults could keep whoever lived in them safe from nuclear warfare... but that wasn't their real intention.

Experiments.

Sick experiments, from what Juliet now knew. This vault's experiment wasn't as harsh as some of the others, but...

Butch was telling her about his gang, the Tunnel Snakes, but she wasn't listening. Not really. She looked around the clinic, among all the "rebels" and she gulped. They were probably all related to each other and they had no idea.

Juliet shuddered as Butch tilted his head. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

She bolted her eyes up at him. "Yeah, yeah!" She sputtered. Luckily, before Butch could call her out on her bluff, Sylvia returned... with the Overseer.

Everyone went silent. He looked completely heartless; his hazel eyes were staring coldly at all the young adults plus the outsider teenager in the clinic. Juliet found herself standing behind Butch, in case the Overseer decided to call out her presence.

Butch slightly smirked at her. "It's okay, don't be scared of him."

The Overseer cleared his throat, and promptly apologized to the entire group, and then announced he was resigning from his role as Overseer... handing the title over to his daughter.

"Ah, shit," Butch laughed bluntly. "This ought to be interesting! Amata, we can leave now, right?"

The Overseer gave his daughter a firm look, and glanced at everyone else, ignoring Sylvia, and walked out of the clinic.

"I think..." Amata spoke in shock. "I think I will open the vault. But..." She turned her attention to a completely terrified Sylvia. "I have to ask you to leave."

"What-?" Was Sylvia's response.

"You freed us," Amata admitted. "But... I have to ask you to leave, and don't come back. For the vault's sake."

"What?!" Sylvia flew into a fit of rage. "You're joking, right? You just said it yourself! I saved you from your dad! AGAIN! My own dad is fucking DEAD! AND YOU'RE ASKING ME TO LEAVE?!"

Juliet could feel the hurt in her voice. She understood... kind of. It wasn't anything like when Autumn laid out how Juliet's entire life was a lie, but it was the same kind of awful pain. She wanted to hug Sylvia, and tell her it was okay, but she didn't have time. Sylvia stormed out of the clinic, presumably going to exit the vault... forever.

Juliet pat Butch's shoulder before telling Amata, "In my time, we had a word for people like you. Conceited bitch. I'm sorry I told her about your radio broadcast." And going to follow the Lone Wanderer out of Vault 101, one of the most horrible places Juliet would ever find herself in.

* * *

For a mere two days, it consisted of Charon sulking around Sylvia's Megaton home. He finally couldn't handle it anymore. The moping around. His young adult contract holder and his teenager...

Wait.

...his?

His _what?_

He grumbled now.

Sylvia was in her bedroom upstairs. Juliet was half asleep in a green chair downstairs. Dogmeat was laying near the fridge. The robot, Wadsworth, was floating about. "That's it!" Charon hissed, waking Juliet up. "Robot, get Sylvia down here." He ordered.

"Of course," Wadsworth replied, floating upstairs. After a lot of groaning and complaining a minute later, the Lone Wanderer appeared downstairs, glaring at Charon.

"What?" She scowled.

"We're leaving." Charon decided.

"Leaving where?" Sylvia questioned, narrowing her grey blue eyes up at the ghoul.

"To get that G.E.C.K." Charon reminded. "Don't you want to finish your father's work?"

"He _died_ from it!" Sylvia trembled.

"His death will be in vain if you don't do anything." Charon coldly stated.

Juliet put a hand over her mouth, preparing to watch Sylvia fight him. Instead, she huffed, "Fine! But I'm not the one who knows where Vault 87 is!"

The Vault-Tec Human now cleared her throat.

* * *

The teenager of the group was never going to get used to walking for hours on end. During their journey to Lamplight Caverns, she'd came across the scariest thing ever, more terrifying than Super Mutants. It was a Deathclaw that was caged in an Enclave camp. No one wanted anything to do with it, so the group successfully snuck around it, with severe effort to keep Dogmeat's mouth muzzled using their hands to clamp him shut.

It took over half a day to reach the far north west side of the Capital Wasteland. Juliet hoped deeply in her mind that Julia would be there, still chaperoning half of the elementary school for their field trip here. What... what happened to them when the world ended? Julia. Charlie. Jade. Did they live out their lives or did they get blasted into atomic ash? Did they get into Vault 87?

The facility that housed the vault lived up to its name as they entered the cave, following the lit path down until they discovered a stop sign, a rather large gate, and a small boy with a rifle. "Hold it right there!" He squeaked. "Anyone takes another step and I'll blow your fucking heads off!"

Charon was slowly reaching for his shotgun; Dogmeat let out a small bark; Juliet startled everyone by bursting into laughter. "What the hell is so funny?!" The boy hissed.

Juliet was damn near hysterical as she hugged herself from laughing so hard. Even she didn't know what was so funny - just the idea of that little boy wielding a gun and swearing like he was all grown up. It was too much for her.

Sylvia threw her arms up. "We're not here to hurt anyone!"

"You all have guns!" The boy remarked.

"Yes, but we can be friends." Sylvia offered.

"You're big, and I don't have big friends. YOU ALL NEED TO GET OUT!" The boy angrily yelled.

"We're looking for Vault 87," Sylvia interrupted with a gulp. "It's through this cave, right?"

"Yeah, but that's where the monsters are." The boy answered quietly. "None of you are getting into Little Lamplight. No Mungos allowed!"

As soon as Juliet got herself together, she snorted and said, "Your face looks like my butt!"

The boy smirked. "Oh yeah? I bet you like having a good looking butt!"

"It doesn't smell as bad as you do." Juliet remarked, putting her hands on her hips.

The boy laughed. "You're pretty funny for a Mungo. I guess you guys can come in..."

As the gate opened, Sylvia was utterly stunned. "Juliet, how did you do that?"

The 217 year old shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I'm a child at heart I guess."


	8. Emotional Drought

"Could one of you take me to Big Town?"

The young man in a party hat explained that once you were sixteen years of age, you were booted out of Little Lamplight and forced to go to Big Town. Sylvia offered to escort him, and told Charon he could remain here on the account that Dogmeat go with her for some sort of protection.

Meanwhile, Juliet was attempting to meet every child she could lay her eyes on. Somehow, it made her feel closer to her sister and Charon's sister... people of the past.

The first one was a six year old girl of Hispanic descent. "I'm Betty, but everyone calls me Bumble." She introduced.

Juliet silently whimpered. _Betty. Braun. Vault-Tec._

She knelt down and pulled Bumble into a hug. "Are you okay?" The child asked, sounding very startled.

"Big people are weird," the doctor who went by Lucy rolled her eyes. When Juliet pulled herself together, she asked about the origins of Little Lamplight. "There are some holotapes in here and some at the gift shop," Lucy answered. "They're from the big people and kids who were here first."

With that, Juliet eagerly searched for said holotapes. She didn't have any way to listen to them... did she? She held the holotape on her palm until her brain mentally clicked, and the recording played in her thoughts, just like Amata's broadcast.

 _My name is Carrie Delaney. I teach fourth grade at Early Dawn Elementary School, in Washington, D.C. Yesterday, October 23, 2077, half the school went on a field trip to Lamplight Caverns. We were packing up to leave when... when everything went **crazy**. The caves started shaking... the lights went out... the kids started screaming. My God... Mr. Pollack and Julia went outside to see what was going on... When they came back in, they told us what they saw. Clouds. Mushroom clouds. It's finally happened. **The end of the world.**_

Juliet was beside herself - JULIA! It felt so good to hear someone speak of her. Proof she existed. Proof she wasn't going crazy after all. She was definitely going to show Sylvia this recording.

As she walked out of the office building, Charon tried to warn her about the boy who-

 **Clunk.**

"Hey there!" The boy with the mining helmet and goggles yelped. "Do you have any Nuka-Cola? Even a little bit of it? Can I have some? Be your best friend! Totally honest! Not lying! Not a little bit!"

"I don't have any?" Juliet replied with vague humor.

"Oh, okay! See you later!" With that, the boy turned and ran off into the caverns. Juliet scratched her head in slight confusion as Charon approached her.

"Juliet." He attempted to clear his throat.

"Yes?" She looked up at the tall, red ghoul.

"What shall we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sylvia entrusted you with me until she returns. What shall we do?"

Juliet felt very hot as her face turned a bright red. "W-w-w... we're going to the gift shop!" She blurted. That was not what she wanted to say at all, but she wasn't sure how he was going to react. "I want to listen to the recordings of the kids who were here when..."

"When what?"

"When the bombs fell. Don't you remember? C-Charlie and Jade went here for a field trip."

Charon blankly replied with, "I can't remember."

Juliet frowned and began her trek to the gift shop, escorted by Sue, or Knock Knock as she preferred. The souvenir shop was ran by Knock Knock's twin brother, Nick, or simply 'Knick Knack'.

"Huh," Charon was briefly amused by the nicknames.

There were three holotapes on the back shelf inside the shop. Two of them were recorded by a one Jason Grant. The other was recorded by-

"CHARLIE!" Juliet yelped. "Charon, your sister made this recording!"

"I can't remember." Charon repeated. Juliet wanted to ask how could he even remember? He wasn't here when it happened. Instead, she did her Vault-Tec magic and held the holotape in her hands tightly, transmitting the data to her brain.

 _My name is Charlie. I live in Lamplight Caverns, but a lot of the kids decided to change it to Little Lamplight, because we're all little. The grown ups left us, but that's okay. We're fine without them. I've been waiting for my big brother, Charon, to come rescue me, but he hasn't came. He's not going to be here. The grown ups in the vault we found won't let us in. I say forget them all, we will be fine! Right, Jade?_

 _Um... yeah, if Charlie says we're gonna be okay, then we're gonna be okay._

Juliet felt so blessed to hear both of their voices again. A second later she had a horrible thought. Why weren't there any grown ups? Where was Julia? She... did she abandon them-? No! Never! Something must have happened... and no one was ever going to know what it was.

"Charon, you'll have to listen to this when Sylvia gets back." She decided. "Charlie talked about you."

Again, he said, "I can't remember."

"Can't remember what?" Juliet finally asked. "Charlie?"

"I can't remember."

"How can you not remember your own sister?!"

Charon grunted. "I _can't_ re _mem_ ber!" He highly emphasized. "They made me forget everything. _Everything_. Except my name. But they couldn't make me forget you."

Juliet whimpered. "Why couldn't you forget me?"

Charon looked uncomfortable as all hell. "Because I-" He started, but stopped when there was loud barking from behind. Juliet turned her head to see Dogmeat running up, followed by all the other dogs of Little Lamplight, all curious about the new outsider mutt, and finally, Sylvia came into view.

"I'm back!" She waved, her blonde hair falling in her face as she was taking deep panting breaths. "I only ran almost the whole way back because the dumb dog decided he wanted to race." She put her hands on her sides as she tried to get herself together. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet let slip a grin. "I found some holotapes you may want to hear."

* * *

Charon took one look at the tiny human girl with honey blonde hair wearing a pink dress and a headband revealing a horrid smirk, and he knew he was not about to deal with the shit that was about to come out of her mouth.

"I'm Princess," she introduced. "I'm the real one in charge around here, so when I say to do something, you do it. Got it? Now who are you guys?"

Juliet puffed her cheeks and Sylvia had a feeling she was about to try to be funny again like she did with Mayor MacCready earlier, so she quickly intervened. "Yeah, okay, whatever you say."

"Good!" The girl gleamed. "Now that that's settled, stay out of my way and there won't be any trouble."

"You're kind of in our way," Sylvia admitted. "The mayor gave us permission to enter Murder Pass."

"You're crazy!" Princess spat. "Since he's not here to help me open the gate, I need one of you Mungos to do it."

"Sure," Sylvia climbed up the side stairs to help Princess lower the giant bags of rocks that held the gate shut, thus getting it open.

"See you Mungos never." Princess smirked as Dogmeat, the red ghoul, the Lone Wanderer, and the human Pip-Boy all walked through the open gate.

Sylvia gave Juliet a stern glare to prevent her from sarcastically replying to the kid, leading the way down to a little wooden door that no doubt opened to Murder Pass.

Charon grumbled lightly as he held his shotgun across his chest. Nearly every child in Little Lamplight said there were monsters to be expected. Which meant it's time to protect these humans he wouldn't admit he cared about.

Oh, and the dumb dog too. Why not.

Murder Pass consisted of several super mutants. They weren't too difficult for Charon to handle while being able to keep an eye on-

A super mutant with a super sledge leaped forward, swinging his weapon right at Sylvia. Charon grunted and couldn't turn his shotgun fast enough to shoot him. In that split second he knew he had failed. His contract broken. His employer killed.

During that same split second, bursts of laser rifle flew past Charon on his right. They landed perfectly against the super mutant's right arm, causing him to drop his weapon, just as Sylvia landed on the ground after ducking for her life. If not for what happened... that super sledge would have hurt.

Charon pumped an entire clip into that bastard mutant, and Dogmeat pounced him in the end. Sylvia scrambled up and let out, "Thanks, Juliet!"

"Yeah, yeah!" The teenager replied, trying not to drop her laser rifle from shaking so much. Charon was impressed; Juliet was catching on to her new... new what, exactly? Powers? Abilities? She could do the same thing as the machine on Sylvia's arm. Doesn't that mean Juliet was just using her new... _functions?_

He hated himself for ever thinking of her as some kind of machine.

Fortunately, Murder Pass lived up to it's name in regards to distance. They soon came upon a vault door that read **NO ACCESS**. The gang went through it, and something caught Juliet's eye in the left corner, on a shelf. It looked like a Nuka-Cola bottle, but... it was glowing purple?

"It's Nuka-Cola Quantum," Sylvia chirped as Juliet inspected the bottle.

"This is the Quantum?" Juliet realized. "They were going to start selling it, but you know, the world got blown up." She set the bottle back. Sylvia proceeded through the next vault like door and Charon was about to follow her when Dogmeat stepped on something behind one of the metal poles holding the room up. He whined, causing Sylvia to turn around and widen her grey-blue eyes.

"That's a-!"

Charon kicked Dogmeat hard enough to knock him back just a couple of feet, which was barely enough to avoid the result of stepping on the pressure plate. The explosion was mild, knocking Charon towards the door Sylvia went out of. The ghoul dropped, and Juliet dropped down to him. "Charon?!" She screamed.

"I'm fine," he grumbled, forcing himself up. As soon as he stood straight, he nearly keeled over. Juliet grabbed his right side, which appeared to be what was hurting him, and helped him stay up. "I said I'm fine!" He growled.

Dogmeat pranced toward them like nothing happened. "You're not fine!" Sylvia remarked. "You don't look like you can walk on your own. I'll give you a stimpak and Juliet can help you until you're able to walk by yourself again."

Dogmeat barked. Charon huffed, unable to argue with his employer. "As you wish."

Sylvia stuck him with a stimpak and Juliet readjusted herself so his weight wouldn't crush her. "Let's look for this G.E.C.K. and get the hell out of here." Sylvia urged.

* * *

The beginning of Vault 87 was littered with blood stains, radroaches, and skeletons. Skeletons everywhere. Super Mutants were to be expected, of course. Luckily, the stimpak had done its job and Charon was fitted to get back to blasting with his shotgun.

Juliet gulped and wasn't sure how to feel. He didn't speak to her at all, nor thanked her for sharing his weight while he was limping. She mentally sighed and shrugged it off.

This vault was considered pretty dull until they made it to the labs. A four legged pink creature with testicles coming out the mouth attacked them, terrifying Juliet. "What the hell was that?!" She screeched.

"Centaur," Sylvia answered. "They're like guard dogs for super mutants."

Juliet did her best to avoid stepping over it as they walked around the dead centaur. It didn't look like a half man, half horse, that's for sure.

 _Hello?_

Everyone stopped, looking at each other in high alert.

 _Can you hear me?_

Sylvia raised an eye. "Does anyone... hear that?"

"Yes." Charon answered.

 _Come down to the end of the hall by the test chambers. I'm in the room with the intercom. Please come._

The being speaking was... a super mutant. He wasn't dressed like one, though. He wore no armor, only a mostly ripped apart blue shirt and blue pants. Sylvia pressed the button on the intercom and said, "Hello?"

"It can't be!" The super mutant freaked. "Either you guys are real, or I've gone mad. Are you actually humans? And ghouls?"

"A friendly super mutant," Sylvia spat. "Now I've seen everything."

"Do you have to use that term?" The super mutant groaned. "Yes, I was born in the F.E.V. chambers, but I am not a super mutant. I am more like a meta human! My name is Fawkes."

F.E.V. The same logs as before flew through Juliet's mind, but the same recurring one would not leave her alone. _"Only a concentrated form of Forced Evolutionary Virus."_ She muttered.

"Do you know anything about a G.E.C.K?" Sylvia asked Fawkes.

"Yes," he replied eagerly. "If you can get me out of this room I can take you to where it is and acquire it for you. It is located in an area that is severely heavy with radiation. No human can survive."

Sylvia dared to look at Charon, when Juliet snapped. "Hell no!"

"I was just-" Sylvia grit her teeth. "Fine! Okay, Fawkes. We'll figure out how to get you out of there."


	9. Cure For The Itch

Getting Fawkes out of his locked isolation chamber was rather easy - just had to trip the fire alarm. The downside: every locked room would open, and most of them were filled with more centaurs. Juliet readied her laser rifle. _Bring it on, ugly fuckers_ she thought.

"Finally... _freedom_!" Everyone heard Fawkes yell. "True freedom!" Followed by the sound of a centaur's head getting bashed in by a super sledge.

There was also a guy named Sid, now free from one of the locked rooms. He quietly approached them and swung a pipe wrench at the back of Juliet's head. "Oh, shit!" Sylvia gasped. "Juliet-!"

Charon growled and lunged at Sid, throwing the pipe wrench right out of his hands. Sid yelled and tried to punch him but the ghoul was alpha superior. He pumped an entire clip of his combat shotgun into the bastard, even after he was dead at his feet.

"Charon!" Sylvia interrupted. "What the hell man?!"

"Is everyone alright?" Fawkes asked as he stomped his way over to them down the red vault hall. Dogmeat licked Juliet's face as she got herself up with the help of Sylvia. Her brain... her Vault-Tec brain was telling her that her head was injured. What it didn't tell her was that she was bleeding.

"Oh?" Juliet remarked, falling forward and rendering unconscious. Well, mostly unconscious. She could barely keep her eyes open and what little she saw was blurry. Her mind was showing her the Vault-Tec mascot, that little blonde man who wore blue and always smiled, only this time he was all green, and his head was... flashing.

Yes, no shit little blonde man. Her head was injured.

She ended up in Charon's arms per orders of Sylvia. He mumbled and complained the entire walk to retrieve the G.E.C.K. that Fawkes led. It felt like they went up a floor and across the entire vault before they stopped at a door with a terminal. "You all stay here," Fawkes ordered. "There's nothing but radiation back there. I'll go get the case and bring it back."

As he stomped off, Sylvia stuck a stimpak into Juliet's neck. "OW!" She screeched. "You couldn't count to three?"

"My dad told me once that anticipation is the worst," Sylvia told her. "You should be feeling better soon."

"Thanks." Juliet scrambled out of Charon's grip and looked up at him. She wanted to thank him too, but he would just shrug it off. Or flat out ignore her. It hurt to think about.

When Fawkes returned, he handed the case to Sylvia and bid them all farewell. "So... do we go back the way we came? Back through Murder Pass?" Sylvia wondered.

"Yes," Juliet answered. "There are no other entrances to this place except for the one covered in radiation we can't get to."

"What, do you have the blue prints to this place?" Sylvia joked as they began the long walk back.

"Yes," Juliet answered bluntly. "I can see it all in my head."

"Oh-?" Sylvia said nervously. "That's... cool?"

The next few minutes was in silence as Juliet took charge. Sylvia completely believed her about seeing it all in her head. She was mostly unconscious on their way to this side of the vault, and now she was leading them back as if that never happened.

The Lone Wanderer smiled. This girl was definitely more than a valuable asset. She was becoming an ally. And a friend.

"Did we pass through that room up ahead?" Juliet pointed out. The mechanical door was already opened, revealing a darker room that was completely empty.

"Yeah, I remember it." Sylvia answered.

They went in. "We should go back." Juliet heavily advised.

"Why? This is the only way-"

Juliet knew she was the only one who would see head on what was about to happen. She didn't see who threw it, and she didn't exactly know what it was that was thrown, but she was about to find out. They were all about to find out. She first assumed a grenade, and this was it.

But it wasn't a grenade. It was a flash bang. And what a bang of flash it did. Juliet's brain felt fried and it hurt. She landed on her back which put new pressure on her head wound. She could feel the blood start oozing again.

A couple of soldiers in tesla filled power armor trekked in from the other side wielding mini guns.

And then... _him_.

Him...

Him-!

The man who shot Juliet's mother. The man who forced Sylvia's father to kill himself.

The man with a joke of a name. The man who didn't deserve it.

Colonel Autumn.

"Objectives secured, sir." One of the soldiers reported.

"Good. Make sure the G.E.C.K. is safely boarded on the vertibird," Colonel Autumn instructed, kneeling down to an immobile Sylvia. "Prepare her for transport. And the Vault-Tec girl, too."

"Yes sir."

* * *

 _"I'm scared... of losing the war. Everyone's going into the vaults. I don't like it."_

 _"You mentioned before you dislike Vault-Tec."_

 _"The war with China? We did this to ourselves. Hiding in a vault is like running away from your problems. I don't want to run."_

 _"Then what do you want?"_

 _"I want it all to be over."_

"Is he talking to himself?" Charon heard a familiar young boy speak rudely.

"Be quiet, Mayor," a young girl retorted. "Hey Charon, how do you feel?"

"Juliet-?" Was the red ghoul's first word.

"She wasn't with you," Lucy of Little Lamplight replied. "It was just you, your dog, and... the friendly monster."

"I am not a monster," Fawkes bluntly yelled. "I am a meta human!"

 _ **We'll help you forget.**_ _ **We'll help you get better.**_ _ **You're going to be just fine, Charon.**_

"I don't want to forget anymore!" Charon yelled angrily. "I want to remember! I want the pain again! I want _her_ again!"

"What-?" Lucy and Mayor MacCready asked in confusion.

"I want... _Juliet_." Charon breathed deeply. "I waited. I waited... _so_ long for her... and she came back. I need to get her back."

"The people in power armor took the girls," Fawkes remembered. "Do you know where they went?"

"The Enclave?" Mayor MacCready assumed. "Don't they have a base north of us?"

"Raven Rock," Charon realized. "They took the G.E.C.K."

"We'd better get going," Fawkes suggested. "We've got some damsels in distress to rescue."

"Wait!" Lucy yelled out, but Charon, Fawkes and Dogmeat escaped her tiny little office. "What is the world coming to? Monsters are going after to save Mungos!"

A tall red ghoul and a giant yellow super mutant trampling through the front of Little Lamplight to get outside while accompanied by a dog was a terrifying sight for all the residents. "Goodbye little humans!" Fawkes managed to yell out while following Charon out, and proceeded north.

It took over four hours to reach Raven Rock. For the first time in... 200 years, Charon's lungs hurt and he gasped for air. He breathed in and out. That fresh, Capital Wasteland air. His head started to hurt from inhaling too much oxygen - and he loved it.

Dogmeat started barking as they neared the Enclave base. There were a few of their soldiers patrolling the entrance, wielding big, heavy looking weapons. "No more games!" Fawkes yelled, scaring the shit out of the soldiers by charging at them head on with his super sledge. "Time to die!"

Charon was utterly confused. Did all super mutants say the same exact things, or what? Regardless, he pulled out his trusty combat shotgun and helped Fawkes and the stupid dog take down the Enclave soldiers. As they shot, bashed, and bit their way to the front of the rocky mountain, the giant metal door suddenly swung open.

Fawkes picked up one of the large weapons a now dead soldier had. "This looks fun!" He laughed, and began to use it. A gatling laser, Charon recognized when he saw it. Those things were pretty bad ass.

Moments later, Charon's blonde haired employer emerged from the mountain. She looked out at the scene before her, and revealed a grin. Juliet came out behind her, with gauze wrapped all around the top of her head, nearly down to her eyes to where she could barely see. "Charon!" She called out.

"Juliet-" He rasped. She was _okay_. She was _here_ , here in this fucked up world that they both somehow survived in.

He was never going to get tired of saying or hearing her name. He needed to tell her that he remembered again. He allowed himself to remember again.

Sylvia and Juliet made their way down, the mountain behind them completely erupting with explosions. "What happened?" Charon demanded.

"Autumn's a real prick, that's what happened," Sylvia answered. "Eden wanted to talk to me so I had to fight my way to him. I found Juliet strapped to a table; they were probably going to mess with her brain or something. She's also got a real knack for Science, so she convinced Eden to shut himself down and blow up the base."

"Miss Wozniak would be proud." Juliet gleamed.

Now that Charon didn't block the memories he was trained to block, it slowly started coming back. He remembered Miss Wozniak. Their chemistry teacher. Instead of acknowledging this, he instead said, "What's our next move?"

"We've got to get back to the Citadel," Sylvia answered. "We're going to need their help getting the G.E.C.K back."

"You'd better get moving then." Fawkes advised.

"Why don't you come with us-?" Sylvia suggested. "It looks like you know how to handle your new toy pretty well."

Fawkes laughed. "Yes I do! You guys are the only people I know in this world... I'd be honored to go with you."

* * *

It took the rest of the day to get back to the Citadel from the other side of the Wasteland. The moon was bright tonight as they approached the guards to the Citadel. Paladin Bael's eyes widened upon recognition. "You're alive!" He exclaimed. "You'd better get over to the lab-"

"Is that a super mutant?!" The other Knight guard interrupted.

"He's with us," Sylvia urged. "So, the lab you say? On it."

Fawkes felt slightly uneasy during the trek through the Citadel. Everyone, literally everyone looked either afraid, or ready to kill. "Elder Lyons!" Sylvia screamed upon entering the laboratory. " _Elder_ Lyons!"

The Elder was standing in a group of Brotherhood soldiers, his daughter Sarah included. "You're back," The Elder simply said. "We feared the worst. Were you guys successful?"

"We don't have time to talk, we have to get out of here now or we'll lose Project Purity!" Sylvia exclaimed.

"We've gotten reports that the Enclave presence has been increasing there," Elder Lyons noted. "What happened?"

"They took the G.E.C.K and they're going to install it!" Sylvia screeched. She handed the Elder a small vial. "Eden wanted me to sabotage the project with this. I didn't trust him. Now, we have to go!"

Elder Lyons passed on the vial to Scribe Rothchild. "Sarah, we've got to give you and the Pride backup. Rothchild, it is ready?"

"Not at all!" The scribe said in horror. "I mean, we fixed the power problems but we've barely ran diagnostics-"

"Enough!" The Elder spat. "Will it work?"

"We can _try_." Rothchild muttered.

"Very well... Sarah. You and the Pride will accompany these people to the Purifier and stop the Enclave. The robot will help you." Elder Lyons instructed.

"Yes sir!" Sarah replied, turning to the Pride soldiers and sputtering orders. Scribe Rothchild went to the terminal to activate the newly finished robot that Juliet was nearly in love with. It was giant, and tall... very tall.

Did she mention tall yet?

The robot was getting assembled top side while Sarah Lyons was looking for recon armor for both Sylvia and Juliet, officially inducting them into the Pride.

Huh. Juliet finally thought of her father. He was a heavily traumatized soldier who served in Anchorage. The fear of the Commies and just going against them was enough to fry his brain. What would he think of her indirectly joining this Brotherhood of Steel?

Juliet remembered when her mother received a letter from his brother, who was also in the service and also stationed in Anchorage for a time. He expressed concern for his brother after the liberation of Anchorage. It seemed like Autumn promptly ignored it, for she never brought it up until after Shawn had went back after his short leave during Christmas.

She sighed mentally. She missed her dad. Now she missed her mom even more.

Colonel Autumn- no, Colonel Asshole was going to pay for what he did. He had a pissed off Brotherhood, a pissed off Lone Wanderer, a pissed off Vault-Tec human and a pissed off Commie-killing robot headed right his way.

 _Colonel Asshole is going to wish I'd never been brought out of Vault 112_ , Juliet thought to herself as the Lyons Pride proceeded to make their charge to the Jefferson Memorial.

Project Purity's fate rested in unknown hands.


	10. My Soul To Take

**A/N: Spoilers for the Fallout 3 final story mission (not DLC) and minor spoilers for the Fallout 3 DLC/Add-On "Operation: Anchorage" towards the end**

* * *

 **THUD.**

 _"AMERICA WILL NEVER FALL TO COMMUNIST INVASION!"_

 **THUD.**

"Did he just shoot down Enclave helicopters with lasers coming out of his EYES?!" Sylvia screamed.

"Keep moving!" Sarah Lyons ordered, charging ahead of Liberty Prime.

 _"COMMENCING TACTICAL ASSESSMENT. RED CHINESE THREAT DETECTED!"_

 **THUD.**

 _"RED CHINESE VICTORY... IMPOSSIBLE!"_

Juliet was certain this robot was her exact feelings personified.

The Enclave began shooting mortars from the Jefferson Memorial at the bridge they were crossing, that was near the Washington Monument.

 **+1 RAD/SEC**

A missile launched into an already destroyed car, causing an explosion. The front of the car flipped, nearly knocking out a Knight, Fawkes, and Sylvia.

Liberty Prime reached for an enormous sized missile strapped to his back and threw it ahead of him, blowing to shit all that was there - Enclave soldiers included. That cleared the way to completely cross the bridge.

 **THUD.**

 _"ALASKA'S LIBERATION IS IMMINENT. COMMUNISM IS A LIE!"_

 **THUD.**

Never in Juliet's life would she imagine she'd be dodging missiles. Bullets. Lasers. Waging war with a giant ass robot. She never would have guessed her future would be like this.

She never would have known she was going to have this kind of life with Charon.

Despite all efforts from the Enclave, the Brotherhood made it to the Jefferson Memorial. "I was born here." Sylvia quietly admitted.

Juliet thought about the very first time she visited the Jefferson Memorial. She was about six years old. Julia was a year older. It was before Dad ever left for the army. When he was always around.

It was also the first time since she was a toddler that she met her dad's brother. Uncle Nate. He looked nothing like Dad so of course little Juliet had to be sure. _"Are you really my uncle? You don't even look like my daddy."_

Both Shawn and Nate laughed a little too hard, Juliet remembered.

As she, Charon, Sylvia and Sarah entered the gift shop, Juliet wondered what had ever happened to Uncle Nate. He sent a letter that Mom ignored a long time ago, and it had been even longer than that since they last saw him. He didn't live in D.C. She couldn't remember where he moved to.

The second time she was here... she found out who and what she really was. She watched her mother get shot killed in cold blood.

For her third visit here... she is going to avenge her mother.

As soon as they mowed down what puny resistance Colonel Asshole had guarding the way to the rotunda, they simply made their way in.

"You again?"

Sarah quickly saw how angry Sylvia and Juliet had gotten. "I can't say I'm surprised," he continued. "You and your little gang seem hell-bent on ruining everything your government has worked for. There's nothing to stop me from killing you this time, just like I did your-"

"Juliet?" Sylvia interrupted.

"I got it," the seventeen year old replied. "Commencing Project Downy Hair." She tried to frighten Colonel Asshole with her smart big words, and it worked. His eyes widened, and stayed widened while Juliet proceeded to shoot away the same weapon she was currently using, a laser rifle from his grip.

No matter what, she was never going to get used to the _frozenness_ and the... the _glowing_.

What seemed like five minutes later of careful aiming was really about a second, Colonel Asshole lost his gun. Sarah went ahead to start gunning him down, but Charon stopped her.

"This is their fight." He told her.

Unfortunately, no one expected more Enclave soldiers. A swarm of them suddenly appeared, and everything went to hell.

As quickly as he could Fawkes readied his Gatling laser. "No more games... time to DIE!"

Fawkes gave Charon a constant headache.

Sylvia and Juliet took cover behind a giant pole as they narrowly avoided minigun bullets. As the rage continued, Sylvia looked to Juliet. "You can get him."

"What?"

"I wanted to kill him," she admitted and then gulped. "But you can get him. Take his fucking head off."

"Yeah, yeah!" Juliet remarked, whipping around the pole to engage Colonel Asshole - the only one left standing. She aimed for his head. Made sure it was glowing... and shot one round of her laser rifle.

His separated head smacked against the purifier walls, splattering some blood, before landing on the ground, not too far from his body.

Sylvia ran over and kicked his body. "That was for my dad! And Juliet's mom!"

"Well..." Sarah Lyons let out. "That settles that. Wait, does anyone hear that?" She trekked up the stairs to the intercom, where Dr. Li was desperately trying to contact someone. "Dr. Li? What is it?"

 _"I was monitoring the equipment,"_ she started. _"There's a lot of damage. Some of it accidental. Some of it sabotage. There's a lot of pressure in the holding tanks. It needs to be released now or the whole place will blow. The purifier has to be turned on NOW. The readings say there are lethal levels of radiation in the chamber."_

"So you're saying..." Sylvia realized. "Whoever turns it on will die?"

 _"I'm sorry. I wish there was another way."_

 **Click.**

Sarah sighed. "Well..."

To everyone's surprise, Sylvia shred a brief smile. "I'll do it." She looked at Juliet. "Your life was taken away from you so fast. Yours and Charon's. You guys deserve to see how the world looks with clean water. Charon... Juliet now has your contract."

"Wait-" Juliet started.

Charon felt himself twitch. He thought he'd broken free of his wiring, but maybe not completely. He found himself telling Juliet, "You are now my employer and I will do as you command."

"Shut up." Juliet spat. "I'm not-"

"I'll make sure everyone knows the sacrifice you've made." Sarah promised.

"Thanks. Now get back, everyone." Sylvia ordered. She made her way into the chamber. When the bulkhead door shut behind her, Juliet ran up and pounded her fists against it. She was yelling, but Sylvia couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Stop!" Juliet screamed. "Sylvia! No! I can't lose you too!" She sobbed.

Sylvia went to the purifier, trying not to inhale the radiation. This is what Dad felt just before he died. _You won't be alone anymore, Dad. Here I come. I hope Mom is there too._

The Lone Wanderer input 2-1-6 on the console.

 _"You remember your mother's favorite passage? Revelation 21:6. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely. Don't you see? This is what it all means. The water, the purifier. THIS is the water of life. Your mother's dream. No point in wasting time. Let's get to work. There's much to be done."_

 **ENTER**

There was a brief flash, causing Sylvia to stumble back. Everything was getting brighter. She managed to see the statue of Jefferson clearly in the center of the rotunda. It... it was _working_.

Sylvia was lying on her back now. Everything was so bright. So very bright...

What happened next, Charon recognized all too easily as he had witnessed and experienced it firsthand 200 years ago. The ground shook from a pulse, followed by a bright flash this time. A moment later the pulse was released.

Juliet was sent flying backwards. She smashed into Sarah and they smacked against one of the poles. "Juliet-!" Charon freaked, running over. He went to pull her off of Sarah but flinched back when a little spark erupted from Juliet's head.

"What in the world was that?" Fawkes questioned.

"I think it fried her brain." Charon realized in horror.

"I thought that was just a figure of speech," Fawkes remarked. "People's brains can really get fried?"

Charon didn't feel like explaining Juliet's half human, half machine situation to him, because right now she was probably half _dead._ "Can you get her?" Charon motioned to an unconscious Sarah.

"I can." Fawkes assured. "Where are we going?"

* * *

For the next two weeks, Charon was in constant and utter terror. Sarah had woken up quickly with just a headache. The Lyons Pride had managed to pry Sylvia out of the rotunda safely, but she was still unconscious. She was breathing.

Juliet... was not. The Brotherhood doctors all tried to pronounce her dead, but Charon wouldn't have it. He showed them how a few times a day, that same little spark would erupt out of her head.

Scribe Rothchild was amazed. "She truly is one of a kind. Half human, half machine. Could there be any way to fix her?"

No one had anything, except for Elder Lyons, who appeared hesitant before he said, "There may be something you can do."

"What is it?" Charon snapped his head up at the old man.

"There is a group of Brotherhood soldiers who are no longer affiliated with us," the Elder started. "We call them the Outcasts. We've gotten reports that they've settled at a place that used to be called VSS Inc. Virtual Strategic Solutions Incorporated. Before the Great War, that place was supposed to create virtual reality combat scenarios for U.S. soldiers. If they have figured out how to use that technology, maybe they can find some way to... trigger Juliet's brain?"

"Where is this place?" Charon demanded.

"It's not too terribly far, still in D.C. south west of here." Elder Lyons answered. As Charon went over to retrieve Juliet from where she lay, the Elder sighed. "If you find them, please be careful. They are outcasts for a reason."

"I'll deal with them." Charon stated, lifting Juliet up bridal style. Without another word, he carried her out of the Infirmary, through the Citadel courtyard, and almost to the exit when a certain ten year old boy stopped him.

"Are you going to fix her?" Squire Maxson asked.

"Yes." Charon promised.

"Good, make sure she comes back, okay? I really, really like her." Maxson said nervously. "She's so nice to me."

"She'll be back." Charon finished, continuing on his trek.

* * *

After hours of surprise raider, super mutant and Enclave attacks which proved dangerously difficult for Charon; he had to carefully hide Juliet before he would fight them, followed by feral ghouls in a metro station that led to Bailey's Crossroads, he'd found the Outcasts.

Currently engaged in heavy battle against super mutants, of course.

They looked just like normal Brotherhood soldiers, only they had splotches of red paint over their armor. During the fight they noticed Charon, and planned to shoot him until they saw he was carrying a human. "Hostage?!" Some of them sputtered.

"No!" Charon rasped angrily. "I'm here for your help!"

"Hmph! Help us with these mutants and we'll talk!" The lead Outcast ordered. Charon ducked back to the metro exit and set Juliet down, watching another spark erupt.

"Hang on, Juliet." He murmured to her. He ran back out wielding his combat shotgun, determined to finish off the super mutants. Determined to acquire the help of these Outcasts. Determined to save Juliet.

"I'm Morrill," the lead Outcast introduced afterwards. "Follow us. What did you need help with?"

After Charon returned for Juliet, he began to explain. "I heard you guys found virtual simulation technology. This... this is Juliet. She... she has Vault-Tec in her brain."

Morrill looked confused but intrigued. "Vault-Tec in her br-?" He jumped back a little when a sudden spark erupted.

"You know what a Pip-Boy does?" Charon questioned.

"Yes." Morrill answered a little too fast, Charon noticed.

"All of that technology, and maybe some general Vault-Tec stuff, she can do it. It's in her brain, like... like a machine."

"Wait a minute," Morrill interrupted. "You're saying she's a walking, talking Pip-Boy?"

Charon grunted and nodded.

"Holy shit..." Morrill gasped.

"She was struck by a radiation wave - a strong one. It fried her brain, fried her technology. She won't wake up. Can you... can you do anything?"

Morrill thought long and hard. "There's a sealed room in this place we're headed to. The only way to open it is to enter a simulation pod and complete a scenario, something military. Problem is, we need... you know what, why don't you take that little red elevator over there down and talk to Protector McGraw. I'll radio him your situation, and you guys can work something out."

After another grunt, Charon did just that. An African-American man with a creepy, ghoul like voice met him at the bottom, ordering Charon to follow him and not to pull out his weapon. He led him straight to Protector McGraw, who had an annoyingly perfect haircut and an even worse mustache.

"Hmm..." He mumbled. "So the girl has that fancy computer technology... in her brain? Interesting. She's unconscious? We need someone who can use that kind of technology. If we can get her awake, can we use her help?"

"Help for what? Opening a door?"

"There's a simulation that needs completed, but it requires a specific interface. We don't have it... but if what you say is true, then you have one. In your girl's brain. How about a deal? We wake her up, and in return she helps us complete that simulation?"

"She was in a simulation for 200 years," Charon muttered. "I think she can go through it again just for a little while."

"...200 years?" McGraw repeated.

"Just show me the simulation lounger." Charon snapped, quickly following the amazed and confused Protector.


	11. Feed The Machine

**MEGA Spoilers for Fallout 3's DLC/Add-On "Operation: Anchorage"**

When people are unconscious, they say everything goes black just before it. When people black out, they say the same thing. For Juliet, when she was hit by that radiation wave, her brain felt like it was on fire for just a brief moment before everything went black... permanently.

It was dark. That's all she saw and felt. She couldn't speak. She couldn't think. It was eerily too much like Tranquility Lane.

Wait.

She wasn't supposed to think. The reminder of that black and white world she was stuck in for so long was vivid in her mind. So vivid... she was actually there. She blinked, staring at her black and white self in the mirror of her bedroom.

Her blue- no, there was no color here. Her eyes widened in horror. Why was she back here?! Was... was her mom back here too? Alive? Excited at the possibility, she got up from the chair and fled her room, flying down the stairs and turning to the kitchen to disappointment - empty.

Mom wasn't here. Mom was dead.

 ** _"That was for my dad! And Juliet's mom!"_**

She twitched. Who had said that again-? She gasped. It was the cute little blonde girl! Where was she? Juliet turned her entire body around prepared to walk outside when she was startled by a voice behind her.

"I wouldn't go out there. It's not safe."

She quickly turned back around to see an old, sad looking man. He wore a Vault 112 jumpsuit. His hair was short and white, skin slightly tan and crinkly, and his eyes... were the same shade of blue as Juliet's. She couldn't see it in this black and white world, but somehow she knew. She recognized him, but she didn't know why.

"You know who I am." His accent. German. Strong.

"Braun," Juliet realized. "You're my real father."

This is what her mother had told her. _Braun gave you his DNA. You are a miracle. A hybrid. Half human, half... Vault-Tec._

"You were Betty, weren't you?" Juliet also noticed.

"I was," Braun answered. "I imagine you have many questions."

"Why am I here?" Juliet asked first, getting right to it. Find out why she's here and how to get the hell out.

"That I'm not really sure of," Braun admitted. "As part of your creation I added a technological link to my simulations. When you first arrived here, I specified it to Vault 112."

"What does all that crap mean?" Juliet spat.

"I see you've inherited my temper," Braun appeared rather amused. "It means that you have a connection to myself, and my simulator world. That is how you are able to talk to me right now. What I don't know is how you managed to connect yourself. You may even be starting to understand more of who you are better than I."

"So this is real?" Juliet acknowledged. "I'm talking to the real you? How do I know this isn't some kind of pre-recorded simulation you put in my brain?"

"Look outside, child." Braun simply said. Juliet narrowed her eyes and turned around to do just that. She barely moved a window curtain over and peeked out, and gasped. There were Chinese soldiers patrolling the entire Lane. "They haven't thought of actually going inside the houses," Braun continued. "Thankfully they can't ever hurt me."

Juliet stepped back. "How do I get out of here? Why did you create me? What else can I do?"

"Child," Braun spoke. "I'll answer any questions if you help me get out of here."

She huffed. "Fine. How do I do that?"

"All you have to do is-"

 _"Juliet?"_

"Charon-?" She recognized. When she blinked, Braun and Tranquility Lane were gone. She didn't return to the darkness either. She saw white, followed by little green digital squares everywhere. "Where are you?" She asked.

 _"I'm right here,"_ he answered. _"You're in a simulation pod some Brotherhood soldiers found. They said it would help you wake up. Are you okay?"_

Simulation pod? She must be linked to it, which would explain how she was able to put herself in Tranquility Lane...

"I'm okay. Can I get out now?"

 _"Not yet. You have to complete the simulation first. You have to stay alive or you'll go into cardiac arrest."_

"Oh, that sounds... bad." Juliet whimpered. "What's the simulation?"

 _"It's the lib..."_ Charon's voice faded. The digital squares disappeared and the flash of white overwhelmed Juliet. The next thing she heard was a man telling her to wake up, to snap out of it.

She was also shivering half to death.

"I didn't think you were gonna make that fall, watching your parachute bunch up like that." The dark haired man continued. "I don't think they heard us so we can still get the jump on them. We'll still meet at the rendezvous point to blow those artillery guns to hell. Be careful, the Reds don't take prisoners up here."

Juliet stood there, failing to process anything he just said. "Who are you?" She asked.

He chuckled. "Did you hit your head when you fell? It's me, Benjamin. Look, I'll see you at the rendezvous, okay?"

Benjamin took off to the mountain wall left of them and began climbing it.

"What the..." Juliet shivered. She touched her face, discovering she wore a matching combat helmet with her armor that covered her entire face. It was different shades of grey. She looked up to watch Benjamin climb. "I guess he wants me to go a different way." She muttered, deciding to walk forward, wary she was on the edge of a cliff covered in snow and rocks.

It was so damn cold.

When she made it over a small hill **[DANGER]** flashed in her mind. She dropped down as low as she could and reached for any weapon she may have. She found a trench knife and a silenced pistol. She crept a few steps further and saw him.

A Red. A Chinese. A Commie.

By God she hated those bastards for ruining the world.

She blew her cover and screamed as loud and angrily as she could. The Red jumped around and pulled out his weapon to shoot, but she naturally beat him to the punch, thanks to VATS inside her brain. She obliterated him before he could even land a shot.

The body digitally disappeared as her mind flashed **[CAUTION]** next. She growled and bolted ahead, promising to kill any Commie she would find. Her rush of adrenaline ended when she finished them off within the area. There was a glowing red assault rifle. Juliet touched it, activating it. She strapped her pistol and held the assault rifle.

"This could actually be fun." She admitted. Across from where she got the rifle was a glowing red bin, and it was telling her she could refill her ammo. She touched it just like the rifle and it digitally happened. "It's like I'm playing a computer game." She mumbled next.

Just outside of the corridor she was in was a giant white pipe connecting one side of the mountain to the other. She walked across the pipe and steered right, trekking down the cold, rocky cliffside path that led to stairs, stairs, and more stars. There were two more Reds at the very top, guarding a red door. Juliet fought them to the death and cautiously went through the red door.

She was in a cavern like area now. From not too far away she heard Reds yelling in their language. Juliet aimed her rifle and went ahead, reaching a clearing where she witnessed a random body dropping from high up. She didn't know if it was a Red or an American. Regardless she kept going through the cavern, fighting any Reds she found. Inside a room further uphill the cavern, Juliet was about to shoot down another Commie but someone beat her to the punch.

Benjamin dropped down from a hole in the ceiling.

"Goddamn I almost didn't make it!" He hissed. "There's Reds everywhere!"

"But you did make it!" Juliet remarked. "So what now? Please don't leave me alone again."

"Ready to blow up those guns?" Benjamin asked. "I've got your six."

Juliet ignored him. This was a simulation. He was only going to respond to specific commands or words. Something like that.

* * *

Taking out the three artillery guns was... rather fun for Juliet. Mostly fun. She kept reminding herself that if she died here, her body in the real world was going to be in very bad shape. While traveling with Benjamin, she was finding holotapes of U.S. soldiers, such as Zachary Lloyd and Henry Hodges, going into depth of when the Chinese invaded Anchorage, Alaska.

Just moments after blowing up the artillery guns, Benjamin told Juliet they needed to report back to General Chase. As Juliet went to ask who that was, everything started going blurry. "What the-?" She covered her eyes until the blurriness faded. She had been moved somewhere. She was now standing in front of a stern looking man. Maybe it's General Chase.

He looked like Sylvia's Overseer from Vault 101 with bright white hair. It was freakishly weird. "Damn fine job you did taking out those guns!" The General praised.

"Yeah, yeah," Juliet replied. "Just tell me what to do next so I can get this simulation done."

Within minutes, General Chase appointed her the head of a strike team. She was told to use this to her advantage to take out her three primary targets: an armor depot, a listening post, and some kind of pulse field all ran by the Chinese she needed to figure out how to break.

"This is going way over my head." She sighed after it was all over. She'd used the computer they provided to assign a strike team. She chose a regular infantryman, someone who was good with grenades, and then a Mr. Gutsy solely because it would remind her of her Mr. Handy, Charlie.

She missed him so much.

Outside of the briefing tent, she was hit with a blast of cold. She shivered underneath her armor as she noticed her strike team patiently waiting in the near distance. She caught Benjamin standing nearby, speaking with someone who forgot to wear their helmet.

"Oh Benji, you're full of shit, ya know that?"

"I am not!"

"So you really managed to sneak up one of their chimera tanks, kill the Red inside and commandeered it for yourself?"

Juliet screamed as loud as she could at the man Benji was talking to. He was tall, with short dark brown hair and light green eyes that gleamed humorously. "DAD!" She recognized. "DAD!" She never ran so fast in her life. She wrapped her arms around her simulated father, and the sudden realization that he wasn't going to respond to the hug sunk heavy in her heart.

She ignored it and asked, "What are you doing here, Dad? Why are you in this...?" She lightly gasped as it came to her. Before the War. Before Vault 112. Dad was home for Christmas. He had mentioned this.

 _"They came to Anchorage."_

 _"Who?"_

 _"Vault-Tec. We were on early leave when they showed up, talking about making a-a-a simulation for the war."_

 _"A simulation? Isn't that a computer program?"_

 _"I don't know, I'm just a soldier. They said it would be important to the future. They used all of us. Me, Montgomery... fuckin' Benji. We stopped that Chinese bastard. The dragoons got some of us while we were sleeping. Thought they were sneaky sons a' bitches but I was awake. I waited until after they all came in the camp, after they killed my squad. Then I threw a frag 'cause our grenadier was dead. That robot was annoying but Benji was pissed that we were the only ones who made it."_

In horror, Juliet looked over her strike team. A regular soldier, the grenade guy, and a Mr. Gutsy - a robot. Benjamin... Benji! How... what? How did she assign the squad her father described over 200 years ago?! Confusion flooded her but she pushed it aside. Was her father going to join her for the rest of the simulation?

She knew this wasn't real. Just made up computer crap. But still, she was able to see and talk to her father again. She was going to enjoy every second of it.

"Are you ready to kill some more Reds?" Benji asked Juliet.

She grinned at him and her father. "Yes Benji. Yes I am."


End file.
